Grow pot elsewhere

It makes sense for you. It makes sense for us.

EDITOR: The cannabis industry disclosed important facts during the county’s public outreach to develop a vision for an updated cannabis ordinance. Their notion that cultivation will become a marquee industry that will generate wealth and create new jobs is problematic.

As reported in The Press Democrat, California is producing so much pot that outdoor prices are about $600 per pound. Prices may soon descend to $400. After state cultivation taxes, county taxes and expenses, growers cannot make a profit. Labor and land cost more than in Southern California and the Emerald Triangle, making Sonoma County uncompetitive. Unlike some regions, we have water supply problems.

The industry’s hope to distinguish itself using appellations to garner higher prices is a chimera. Plants grown in plastic tubs of chemicals and additives from elsewhere don’t reflect Sonoma terroir, nor do plants screened from local light and air in white plastic hoop houses. State appellation law forbids appellation status for cannabis grown in pots, artificial light or hoop houses.

Why should rural residents accept vast changes for a business model that seems predicated on P.T. Barnum’s infamous phrase, “There’s a sucker born every minute”? Dispensaries will have plenty of cannabis even if little is cultivated here.

CHARLENE STONE

Santa Rosa