"Outlaw pot growers fear California Legalization"

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2010/mar/24/pot-growers-fear-legalization-lock/

REDWAY, Calif. — The smell of pot hung heavy in the air as men with dreadlocks and gray beards contemplated a nightmarish possibility in this legendary region of outlaw marijuana growers: legal weed.

If California legalizes marijuana, they say, it will drive down the price of their crop and damage not just their livelihoods but the entire economy along the state's rugged northern coast.

"The legalization of marijuana will be the single most devastating economic event in the long boom-and-bust history of Northern California," said Anna Hamilton, 62, a Humboldt County radio host and musician who said her involvement with marijuana has mostly been limited to smoking it for the past 40 years.

Local residents are so worried that pot farmers came together with officials in Humboldt County for a standing-room-only meeting Tuesday night where civic leaders, activists and growers brainstormed ideas for dealing with the threat. Among the ideas: turning the vast pot gardens of Humboldt County into a destination for marijuana aficionados, with tours and tastings - a sort of Napa Valley of pot.

Many were also enthusiastic about promoting the Humboldt brand of pot. Some discussed forming a cooperative that would enforce high standards for marijuana and stamp the county's finest weed with an official Humboldt seal of approval.

Pot growers are nervous because a measure that could make California the first state to legalize marijuana for recreational use could appear on the ballot in November. It appears to have enough signatures.

The law, if approved, could have a profound effect on Humboldt County, which has long had a reputation for growing some of the world's best weed.

In recent years, law enforcement agents have seized millions of pot plants worth billions of dollars in Humboldt and neighboring counties. And that is believed to be only a fraction of the crop.

"We've lived with the name association for 30 or 40 years and considered it an embarrassment," said Mark Lovelace, a Humboldt County supervisor. But if legalization does happen, he said, the Humboldt County name becomes the region's single most important asset.

"It's laughable at this point to try to be hush-hush about it," he said.

Humboldt County's reputation as a marijuana mecca began in the 1970s. As pot users began to notice a decline in the quality of Mexican weed, refugees from San Francisco's Summer of Love who moved to the forested mountains along California's conveniently remote North Coast began figuring out better ways to grow their own. The Humboldt name soon became a selling point for marijuana sold on street corners across the country.

These days, the small towns in this region about five hours north of San Francisco are dotted with head shops and garden supply stores.

California is one of 14 states that allow people to grow and use marijuana for medical purposes, but recreational use remains illegal. (And will remain illegal under federal law, regardless of how California votes.)

For decades, the outlaws, rebels and aging hippies of Humboldt County have been hoping for legalization. But now that it appears at hand, many clandestine growers fear it will flood the market with cheap, corporate-grown weed and destroy their way of life.

About 20 pot growers gathered on a patio outside the meeting Tuesday to discuss the dilemma posed by legalized pot. Many wore baseball caps and jeans, just like farmers anywhere else in America. No one addressed anyone else by name, a local custom driven by fear of arrest, but that didn't stop some in the group from lighting up their crop.

Many complained that legalization would put them in the same bind as other small farmers struggling to compete against large-scale agribusinesses.

A dreadlocked younger grower who said he had already been to prison for marijuana objected that no one could replicate the quality of the region's weed. When he was a kid, he said, "Humboldt nuggets – that was like the holy grail."

"Anyone can grow marijuana," he said. "But not everyone can grow the super-heavies, the holy bud."

Under the ballot measure, Californians could possess up to one ounce of marijuana for personal use. They could cultivate gardens up to 25 square feet, which is puny by Humboldt County standards. City and county governments would have the power to tax pot sales.

Some growers Tuesday fantasized about mobs of tourists in limos streaming to the county. Others were not thrilled with the idea of paying taxes on their crop.

Many agreed with the sentiment on a sticker plastered on a pizza joint's cash register: "Save Humboldt County – keep pot illegal."

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My Thoughts?:

Fuck off Wanna-be hippies.

I think the greed and disgusting thought process of "screw the 20 million American's we have put in jail since the war on drugs started! I don't want to get a real job and this new bill might force me too!!!." Well sorry, I don't give two rats asses if you might have to "work" for a living because Cannabis becomes legal. Get a job or find a service to sell that isn't oppressing billions of the worlds populace to exploit for your own gains. The illegal growers who fight legalization are no better then blood diamond profiteers who used the blood and pain of people to offer their goods to the public at inflated prices.

Its interesting to me that you think growing pot large scale is not a real job.

update.

update.

Just saw the kabc 7 news story on the california legal marijuana for the november vote!

more than enough signatures!

21 an older can grow and have personnel amounts!

so its time to get in the seed bizz!!

or growing supply industry.

P.D.S said:

Its interesting to me that you think growing pot large scale is not a real job.

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EDIT: Read below, Lysol pretty much said what I wanted to only it made sense =P

medfinder, keep in mind, it will still be against "federal" law. Should be interesting to see how the feds react to Cali's legalization

P.D.S said:

Its interesting to me that you think growing pot large scale is not a real job.

Click to expand...

woosh.. over your head. missed his whole point.

All he was saying was the we should not give 2 rats asses about putting a grower out of business, if it means we can stop arresting millions. If that's the case then fuck the grower's "jobs".

Its not a real "industry" yet, in the sense that it still depends on artificial demand.

lysol said:

woosh.. over your head. missed his whole point.

All he was saying was the we should not give 2 rats asses about putting a grower out of business, if it means we can stop arresting millions. If that's the case then fuck the grower's "jobs".

Click to expand...

Yea pretty much.

I think the locals have gotten so used to the extremely high profit margins in the prohibited marijuana industry. I have no doubt they work their asses off and I know they produce some of the best bud there is. I just find it silly to want to keep an unjust law just so some can keep their unnaturally large profit margin. I am excited to grow/buy/sell weed at a legal market driven price, I would think they should too if they care at all about cannabis cultivation.

WestCoast4Life said:

I think the locals have gotten so used to the extremely high profit margins in the prohibited marijuana industry. I have no doubt they work their asses off and I know they produce some of the best bud there is. I just find it silly to want to keep an unjust law just so some can keep their unnaturally large profit margin. I am excited to grow/buy/sell weed at a legal market driven price, I would think they should too if they care at all about cannabis cultivation.

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That is EXACTLY how I feel. I grew up in Chico, My parents managed an Econolodge in Eureka where I lived for a few years. I know Humbolt bud, its got a brand name that would market like hot tamale's in Cali.

I am hoping some day to be able to grow my own "farmers market" mom and pops brand, maybe open a "farmers market coop" that includes Cannabis not just local foods.

There is so many possibilities that the fact people would rather risk jail themselves, and their customer base to keep a highly inflated price point makes me wonder if they have smoked themselves stupid. I wish I had a parcel of land in Arcadia to grow on, I would embrace legalization with hands open so that I could have a piece of mind when I am tending to my plants. When I grew, I grew to relax and to share my trade. Not to get rich.

Many of the things said in the article are true; legalization will drive down the price. It will cause some people to loose their livelihood as growers. The guerrilla grower will cease to exist in Cali. Check out the outdoor forum, two types of grower on there the ones from Cali and the ones not. It very easy to pick out a guerrilla grower from a Cali grower.

Rather than smaller guerrilla type plots and plants they grow smaller numbers of plants and focus on 5lb/plant yields. Many things will change including the push out of small time growers because big business will leverage it much like large-scale farmers killing the small farmer.

You cant ignore the truth all you have to do is compare it with the plight of the small farmer. Sure you will still have some "Organic growers" but if you think it wont change many growers lives you are mistaken.

On one hand people will not be going to jail for selling weed but they will be for not paying their taxes on the profits. You can’t have it both ways either you want it legalized or you don’t. Problem is too many people yelling for legalization didn’t realize what they were yelling for. Be careful what you ask for you just may get it.

So I tend to agree with the thread starter, "Please don’t cry because you got what you asked for."

Getting rich from cannabis is sweet but the price is extremely over inflated due inherently to its illegality. It will be great to see legal marijuana being sold at a normal price, not paying for the extremely large risk which dictates the high prices presently. If you can get rich in the legal marijuana industry one would assume you have a good product, which is a good/fair thing! I would love to see the legal marketplace have of marijuana, 215 kinda gave a quasi system I guess.

Koroz said:

Hi, I am a point and I was missed by the poster above. Please leave a detailed message where this point can be found so that the above poster can pick it up.

Thank you,

The Management.

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Haha, sorry that mailbox is full. Krunchbubble, he's not saying you don't work hard. He's not saying you don't deserve the cash, what he's saying, is the fact you tout around that you want it to stay ILLEGAL is unethical and immoral of you. Its extremely selfish. No other "real" industry operates on such an artificial demand.

If you're such a good grower don't be afraid of competition. I'm sure if you are what you say, you would make millions under legalization, consulting to other growers who wish to learn your skills.

If you need it illegal to thrive, in other words if you need need a handicap... need your hand held, well....

10 million?

10 million?

found some more info on this.

theres 10 million dollars backing in this.




Marijuana Ballot Measure
Pot measure qualifies for Nov. ballot


(03-24) 17:26 PDT Sacramento --

California voters will decide this November whether to legalize and regulate adult recreational use of marijuana as the Secretary of State today certified that a Bay Area-based effort to put the issue on the ballot has collected enough signatures to do so.

If passed, California would have the most comprehensive laws on legal marijuana in the entire world, marijuana reform advocates say. Opponents are confident they will easily defeat the measure.

The vote will be the second time in nearly 40 years that people in the Golden State will decide the issue of legalization, though the legal framework and cultural attitudes surrounding marijuana have changed significantly the past four decades. If Californians pass the measure, it would be the first in the nation to do so as similar efforts in other states all have failed.

Backers needed to collect at least 433,971 valid signatures of registered voters and the Secretary of State said they met that threshold.

If voters approve the ballot measure, it will become legal for Californians 21 and older to grow and possess up to an ounce of marijuana under state law. Local jurisdictions could tax and regulate it, or decide not to participate. Marijuana would continue to be banned outright by federal law.

Current state law allows a person, with a doctor's approval, to possess an amount of marijuana that is reasonably related to the patient's current medical needs. People also can obtain cards identifying themselves as a patient, which helps in interactions with law enforcement.

"There is no state that currently allows adults to grow marijuana for personal (recreational) use, but what is totally different and will be a game-changer internationally is this would allow authorized sales to adults as determined by a local authority," said Stephen Gutwillig, California State Director of the Drug Policy Alliance Network, an organization advocating for changes in drug laws.

The major backers of the initiative - the founder of an Oakland-based marijuana trade school, a retired Orange County judge and various drug law reform organizations - are planning to oversee a $10 million campaign to push the measure.

Allen St. Pierre, the executive director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said the organization will focus its efforts to pass the proposition and said the California effort is notable because it likely will be funded by the marijuana industry.

"This is being launched at a time not only of mass nationwide zeitgeist around marijuana, but acutely in California," he said. "Almost all other (marijuana) initiatives were poorly funded and what funding there has been ... was purely philanthropic."

But opponents, which likely will include a large coalition of public safety associations, said that once voters understand the implications of the measure it will be handily defeated.

"The overarching issue is given all the social problems caused by alcohol abuse, all the social and public safety problems caused by pharmaceutical abuse and the fact that tobacco kills - given all those realities, what on Earth is the social good that's going to be served by adding another mind-altering substance to the array," said John Lovell, a lobbyist for a number of statewide police and public safety associations.

Additionally, he said, employers and government entities receive federal money may not be able to meet federal standards for drug-free workplaces if the measure passes, putting billions of federal dollars in jeopardy.

"It's terrible drafting ... that will cause the state of California significant fiscal problems," he said, adding that when these issues are presented to voters the measure will "sink like a rock in the North Atlantic."

Attitudes of voters in California have increasingly moved in favor of full legalization of marijuana. Californians passed Prop. 215 in 1996 to legalize marijuana for medical use. A bill in the Legislature would also legalize adult recreational use and Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has said it is an idea that should be debated, though he personally opposes it.

A Field Poll taken last April found 56 percent of voters backed the idea of legalization and taxation of marijuana. The measure will add to an already crowded November ballot, with an expensive gubernatorial race looming along with other statewide offices.

Prominent candidates running for higher office, including Democratic Attorney General Jerry Brown who is seeking the governorship and San Francisco District Attorney Kamala Harris, a Democrat who is running for attorney general, have said they oppose the initiative. Don Perata, former Senate President Pro Tem and candidate for Oakland mayor, supports the initiative.

The major Republican candidates oppose the measure.

Richard Lee, the founder of Oaksterdam University, has spearheaded the effort and said he is not concerned about prominent political opposition to the plan, noting the similar lack of support for Prop. 215.

"I think the voters lead the politicians on this issue and they realize that," Lee said.

And why are you against Legalization?

Koroz,

If it is legalized maybe you will learn how to grow...150w ...haha

people > profit

nuff said

any1 who argues this

NAZI r u

article makes me lul

and want to move to cali

For A+ grown herb we will always have a market . Genetics + A+ grower = it will all be fine

I personally cannot wait for the day we remove the criminal aspect associated with cannabis!
Legalize it! By all means. Legalize it!
It's all genetics and grower skills anyway, you big babies!

I think that the title quote is one of the biggest reasons to support legalizing it. We should legalize it to take the money out of shady hands.

Now, I understand most of the people here make money off of growing, so before the flames start, let me hopefully throw a little bit of pre-emptive water

I'm not saying that people shouldn't profit off of it. I'm saying that:
1. It should be taxed
2. There shouldn't be price gouging
3. It shouldn't be funding criminals

If you disagree with any of these points, then here's my rebuttal:
1. If you don't think it should be taxed, then you shouldn't complain about the bad economy. Receiving profits but not paying taxes contributes to the bad economy.
2. Don't want lower prices? Neither do gas companies. If you want to keep your profits high, you're no different than all of the other companies that push legislation to increase profit while screwing the consumer
3. You want to find criminals? I don't think I'd have to respond to that!

I'm all for marijuana making the leap from cash crop to a wonderful part of life.

Legal Calif. pot? Some growers bummed

Legal Calif. pot? Some growers bummed

Humboldt County worries about fallout if Californians vote to legalize​

Medical marijuana grown inside a greenhouse at a farm in Potter Valley, CA.


REDWAY, Calif. - The smell of pot hung heavy in the air as men with dreadlocks and gray beards contemplated a nightmarish possibility in this legendary region of outlaw marijuana growers: legal weed.

If California legalizes marijuana, they say, it will drive down the price of their crop and damage not just their livelihoods but the entire economy along the state's rugged northern coast.

"The legalization of marijuana will be the single most devastating economic event in the long boom-and-bust history of Northern California," said Anna Hamilton, 62, a Humboldt County radio host and musician who said her involvement with marijuana has mostly been limited to smoking it for the past 40 years.

Local residents are so worried that pot farmers came together with officials in Humboldt County for a standing-room-only meeting Tuesday night where civic leaders, activists and growers brainstormed ideas for dealing with the threat. Among the ideas: turning the vast pot gardens of Humboldt County into a destination for marijuana aficionados, with tours and tastings — a sort of Napa Valley of pot.

Many were also enthusiastic about promoting the Humboldt brand of pot. Some discussed forming a cooperative that would enforce high standards for marijuana and stamp the county's finest weed with an official Humboldt seal of approval.

Pot growers are nervous because a measure that could make California the first state to legalize marijuana for recreational use could appear on the ballot in November. It appears to have enough signatures.

The law, if approved, could have a profound effect on Humboldt County, which has long had a reputation for growing some of the world's best weed.

In recent years, law enforcement agents have seized millions of pot plants worth billions of dollars in Humboldt and neighboring counties. And that is believed to be only a fraction of the crop.

"We've lived with the name association for 30 or 40 years and considered it an embarrassment," said Mark Lovelace, a Humboldt County supervisor.

Time to brand Humboldt?
But if legalization does happen, he said, the Humboldt County name becomes the region's single most important asset.

"It's laughable at this point to try to be hush-hush about it," he said.

Humboldt County's reputation as a marijuana mecca began in the 1970s. As pot users began to notice a decline in the quality of Mexican weed, refugees from San Francisco's Summer of Love who moved to the forested mountains along California's conveniently remote North Coast began figuring out better ways to grow their own. The Humboldt name soon became a selling point for marijuana sold on street corners across the country.

These days, the small towns in this region about five hours north of San Francisco are dotted with head shops and garden supply stores.

California is one of 14 states that allow people to grow and use marijuana for medical purposes, but recreational use remains illegal. (And will remain illegal under federal law, regardless of how California votes.)

For decades, the outlaws, rebels and aging hippies of Humboldt County have been hoping for legalization. But now that it appears at hand, many clandestine growers fear it will flood the market with cheap, corporate-grown weed and destroy their way of life.

About 20 pot growers gathered on a patio outside the meeting Tuesday to discuss the dilemma posed by legalized pot. Many wore baseball caps and jeans, just like farmers anywhere else in America. No one addressed anyone else by name, a local custom driven by fear of arrest, but that didn't stop some in the group from lighting up their crop.

Talk of 'the holy bud'
Many complained that legalization would put them in the same bind as other small farmers struggling to compete against large-scale agribusinesses.

A dreadlocked younger grower who said he had already been to prison for marijuana objected that no one could replicate the quality of the region's weed. When he was a kid, he said, "Humboldt nuggets — that was like the holy grail."

"Anyone can grow marijuana," he said. "But not everyone can grow the super-heavies, the holy bud."

Under the ballot measure, Californians could possess up to one ounce of marijuana for personal use. They could cultivate gardens up to 25 square feet, which is puny by Humboldt County standards. City and county governments would have the power to tax pot sales.

Some growers Tuesday fantasized about mobs of tourists in limos streaming to the county. Others were not thrilled with the idea of paying taxes on their crop.

Many agreed with the sentiment on a sticker plastered on a pizza joint's cash register: "Save Humboldt County — keep pot illegal."

a current link to the above article: Bummed Humboldt County Growers Association