Entrepreneurs in California’s famous Humboldt County are worried that when the cannabis industry is expanded in the state, their golden goose will be stolen by those who live elsewhere, thus preventing the county from reaping the benefits of its teeming business, according to the Eureka Times-Standard. One recent report estimated that the cannabis business could increase billions of dollars in five years in the county.
Jason Beaver, development director of California Cannabis Voice Humboldt, told the Times-Standard, “It’s running out of our county. It’s going everywhere else, all over of the world….It’s already being taken away from us. We have got to grab it and hold on to it and stamp it and make it ours. And we have to do it in a pretty short timeline.”
5th District Supervisor Ryan Sundberg said, “Most of us all know that marijuana is huge part of our economy, and many business depend upon that. It is what it is. For myself, I want it regulated and taxed…”. He added that he had hopes for statewide laws to make the industry cleaner, safer and perhaps more economical, saying, “It can be an industry like alcohol–there is Kentucky bourbon, there is Humboldt marijuana.”
Emerald Growers Association Executive Director Hezekiah Allen told the newspaper that he wants the community to rally together on the issue, concluding: “At the end of the day there is definitely a place for the region in the legalized economy, and that is a place of leadership. Even though we are rural, disorganized and way up there on the North Coast, we need to make sure our voice doesn’t get lost.”
Photo: File
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