As I have done more research on cannabis cultivation, I have come to a similar conclusion as Wisewomn below. In fact, following is a rough draft of my next article, after talking with some of the cottage growers. I welcome any comments on what to change, add, or delete in the following, before I start publishing it. I also welcome quotations that I can use. I would also welcome alternative titles. I would prefer that people make their comments directly to me at
[email protected] Thanks for any help on this complicated situation.
Unpermitted Cannabis Cultivating Re-Visited, By Shepherd Bliss
Rough Draft: criticisms requested, to
[email protected].
Readers of versions of this reporter’s August local and national articles on unpermitted cannabis growing have expressed both appreciations and appropriate criticisms. Over a dozen publications in and beyond Sonoma County published those articles, which ranged from 350 to 1250 words.
As previously disclosed, I am a patient at Peace in Medicine and especially appreciate its CBD cannabis. It is essential to my health here at 73-years-old, as it is to many other elders and those with a wide variety of health issues for which cannabis is an appropriate plant medicine.
So I do not oppose cannabis growing. It can be more healthy than many of the chemical medications to which people get addicted and is better for one’s health than alcohol. Medications such as opioids can drastically worsen one’s health, create addictions, and even lead to premature diseases and death.
“I got my cannabis card not to get stoned, which I am too old to do,” commented businessman Andy Cohen, as our dogs played together. “I use the CBD topicals, as well as tinctures, because of my arthritis and gout. It works better than Tylenol or Ibuprofen. It doesn’t damage my liver or put a hole in my stomach.”
This article seeks to promote dialogue among cannabis growers, users, critics, government officials, and others. People from all these groups were interviewed.
Participants in the expanding cannabis industry have educated me about some of the complications regarding this expanding business, especially with respect to applying for permits. I have visited small and medium-size cottage cannabis operations and been informed and impressed by responsible growers.
I support cannabis growing, especially by locals on appropriate sites that do not damage water use by humans, other animals, and plants or damage nature in other ways. Such operations provide good agricultural employment for many people, especially younger persons, some of whom would otherwise remain unemployed or under-employed. These small farms literally “keep families afloat,” as one cannabis farmer expressed. I have even come to understand why many growers do not apply for permits.
Many distinct groups are involved in cannabis growing, including the following: small and mid-size cottage growers, corporate growers, un-permitted growers, permitted growers, neighbors and others who object to the over-use of water and environmental damage, and government officials dealing with the increasing number of grows and disputes.
Cannabis Growers Speak Up
Among the things that growers have said are the following:
“Many of us feel that the legalization of marijuana has opened a Pandora’s Box, which may have many unintended consequences.”
“Heavy-handed military tactics are a problem, which occur even on permitted sites. Growers are not terrorists.” Such tactics on legal sites were reported in an August article by the local daily Press Democrat.
“Why was marijuana illegal back in l937? It makes no logical sense. Marijuana has always been a political crime.”
“Many Vietnam war vets fled to Humboldt and Mendocino counties with their Post Traumatic Stress. They became back-to-the landers.”
“Being underground is an American tradition, which goes back to the independence time and the Civil War.”
“Mom and Pop cottage growers are being marginated by corporations.”
“I predict that within the next year the marijuana bubble will bust and prices will go down.”
Marijuanaland: Dispatches from an American War is a recent book by Jonah Raskin. In a September article in the AVA (Anderson Valley Advertiser), from Mendocino County, he writes the following: “The cannabis story is a story of freedom and incarceration, a rags-to-riches story, as well as a tale about American capitalism, which will capitalize on anything and everything that’s profitable. Weed brings in big bucks.”
Sonoma County--along with the nearby Northern California Mendocino, Humboldt, and Marin counties--are the four largest growers of cannabis in the U.S. We are experiencing what some call the “green rush of capital” and the “corporatization of cannabis.” Multi-national corporations from outside that show little or no respect for the local environment or communities, which concern many locals.
Cannabis growing has occurred in Sonoma County for at least fifty years. Most of those grows are not permitted or legal. An estimated 5,000 such cultivators exist in Sonoma County. That number may expand, since growing cannabis only became legal in California in 2016.
Yet as of Sept. 12 only 115 cannabis applications had been submitted. The Aug. 31 deadline to submit an initial one-page application was extended by the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors to Oct. 31, with the complete application due June 1, 2018.
“We want to see more cultivators coming out of the shadows and into the light,” said Supervisor Lynda Hopkins.
“The solution is to bring all these growers into compliance,” said cannabis attorney Omar Figueroa. “A crackdown doesn’t work. We don’t need more prohibition. We need regulation.”
The New York Times published a Sept. 10 article with the headline “Legal Marijuana Is Almost Here, but Some Growers Aren’t Pleased.” It focused on nearby Mendocino County. It reports that investors from Russia, China, Jamaica, Mexico, and Bulgaria are involved in marijuana growing in that county. It adds that seven times more marijuana is exported from California than used by the local market.
Neighbors Complain About Un-permitted Grows
Various people concerned contacted this reporter about incidents similar to the two unpermitted operations here in the Blucher Creek Watershed, which I previously reported that neighbors were able to get shut down. They were environmentally destructive and problematic, especially to families with young children.
Our Bloomfield/Lone Pine/Cunningham Neighborhood Association connected other nearby neighbors to the correct code enforcement officer, who got unpermitted cannabis grows removed.
“In our rural residential neighborhood a stop work order was issued last week to the owner of an operation,” one neighbor said, “but the grow and the work toward harvest continues. People are camping on the property in at least one trailer.”
“There is no septic or legal electrical power or plumbing. The only water source is a man-made seasonal pond that dries up by this time of year. A non-permitted road was cut through the entire eighty acre parcel up to the top where there are at least six large green house grow houses, each approximately one thousand square feet in size,” he added.
“We are concerned for our wells and springs with regard to the clear cutting of so many trees and then shoving them off the ungraded dirt road, which will likely turn to sludge as the rains come. Everyone in this once peaceful neighborhood is mindful of our water supply and use; we all work to maintain our shared dirt driveway. We are painfully aware that two of the largest and extremely devastating fires in California history were caused by illegal grow set-ups such as this one in our tiny neighborhood,” he concluded.
Among the positive responses to our interventions to support our rural neighborhood have been the following: “The neighbors’ actions inspire me to rouse from my ‘it's inevitable’ victim attitude toward possibly illegal cannabis operations. Taking action against rule breakers has nothing to do with whether we ourselves are cannabis consumers, or how we feel about the burgeoning pot culture,” wrote Randi Farkas.
“With the legalization of cannabis, it’s important to move towards county policies of accountability on everyone's part, including growers, lawmakers, code enforcement, clearly articulated zoning laws and neighbors not looking the other way, but holding their neighbors accountable. I voted yes to legalize cannabis growing. I did not vote yes to support black-market businesses that suck the life out of our communities,” wrote Roberta Teller.
People concerned about cannabis in their neighborhood to observe carefully and talk with the growers, as well as take photos. After our Neighborhood Association did this, we reported two illegal grow operations to government officials, who shut them down.
It is important for governmental agencies and members of our communities to come together to ensure that we continue to enhance our economy, while keeping the integrity of our neighborhoods and environment in tact.
As one successful rural activist said, “Public exposure is what gets the attention of elected officials.”
Shepherd, I spoke recently with a small, "boutique" grower who said many long-time small growers are reluctant to apply for permits because they are simply prohibitively expensive and over-regulated ...