News&Comment

California puts marijuana workers above teachers for vaccinations

See the look of surprise and astonishment on my face. FEBRUARY 18, 2021 BY PAUL MIRENGOFF  VACCINATION PRIORITY FOR TEACHERS OR MEDICAL MARIJUANA WORKERS? The Los Angeles Times reports that California’s updated coronavirus vaccine guidelines place medical marijuana workers ahead of some teachers, bus drivers, and food and agricultural workers. Leaders in the cannabis industry had lobbied Gov.…
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Sonoma County releases draft of cannabis lobby revisions to ordinance

Wholesale capitulation to the cannabis lobby and out of area speculators abandonment of local residents, rural neighborhoods Removal of restrictions on cannabis production in the County All cannabis permits to be ministerial without neighbor notification or input Cannabis to be re-classified as an Ag crop Cannabis tourism restrictions to be removed The comment period will…
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“Small Farmer highlighted in Sonoma West article buying up parcels in Bennett Valley.

Must be tough to be small The reality is most cannabis growers in Sonoma County are well funded out of area speculators. https://www.sonomawest.com/users/login/?referer_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sonomawest.com%2Fsonoma_west_times_and_news%2Fnews%2Fcounty-s-updated-cannabis-ordinance-sure-to-draw-a-crowd%2Farticle_5de71848-70b6-11eb-ab8b-af2d26c3d38a.html

The latest proposed pot operation in rural Sonoma is a real stinker

Read about the proposed operation in Bloomfield, the latest poster child project for a bad ordinance gone even further amok. And please sign the petition.

Say no to canna-tourism (Press Democrat)

EDITOR: Sonoma County supervisors will be voting on the cannabis ordinance soon, and they are considering removal of the current cannabis-tourism prohibition. Please write your supervisor and demand that the county retain and actually enforce the ban on cannabis on-site hospitality activities. Request that the county uphold Ordinance No. 6245, Section 26-88-250 (c) (5), which…
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From the field: Our new neighbor is an out of town Board certified surgeon. Who wants to put a commercial marijuana operation next to our home.

Welcome to cannabis country My husband and I purchased our home in Petaluma in fall 2020. We’re a young, newlywed couple. This is our first home, and what we thought was our forever home. It’s a beautiful yellow victorian farmhouse and heritage home on one acre of land. We are surrounded by large fields where…
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Cannabis tourism will negatively impact property values (Sonoma West)

The cannabis industry wants to copy the wine industry’s model of on-site consumption and events. Currently, the Board of Supervisors are considering removing the current cannabis tourism prohibition. Yet, the cumulative impacts of this type of hospitality and events have not been studied. Hospitality activities at hundreds event centers rob neighbors of the peaceful enjoyment…
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Grand Jury rebukes supervisors for open embrace of cannabis industry, ethics violations, sellout of environmental review process.

Rarely has the Santa Barbara Grand Jury issued so scathing a report as the one released this summer about the open embrace given to the cannabis industry by elected officials throughout Santa Barbara county government. In biting detail, the report castigated the board of supervisors — two in particular — for allowing cannabis industry lobbyists…
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From the field: Oregon: Urban Oregon Legalized marijuana, but rural Oregon is paying the price

CARTEL TYPE BEHAVIORS It was Urban Oregon who legalized marijuana, but it is rural Oregon that is paying the price, and it was the Oregon legislature who redefined marijuana as an agricultural crop, which allowed large commercial marijuana grows to set up next to our rural residential farming homes bringing with them cartel type of…
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55+ Residents Participate in Supervisor Rabbitt’s Town Hall on Bloomfield cannabis permit

What happened at Supervisor Rabbitt’s town hall on 1/11/21 is rare.  It happened because the Bloomfield neighborhood went to great lengths to create a petition with hundreds of signatures, analyzed the issues in the ministerial application and had a supervisor interested enough to hear what the neighborhood had to say.  A ministerial cannabis application doesn’t…
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