Susan Gorin: Will cannabis transform our economy?
When most of us think of Sonoma County agriculture, cannabis is not the first crop that comes to mind. Instead, we think of the visible agriculture that shapes our landscape with neatly landscaped rows of vineyards, grazing cows dotting fields of green, fruit orchards shading dirt lanes. What we don’t picture first in our booming agricultural county is green bushy cannabis plants, row after row, with buds pushing up to the sky.
Until recently, the cannabis industry was relegated to secret places, the other side of the law. Times are changing and we must change with them. We need to take the next step of establishing cultivation regulations that will protect our neighborhoods, and permit cannabis cultivation in appropriate areas of our County.
Cannabis is already a part of our economy, although it is a hidden, underground cash economy. Let’s encourage cannabis to come out of the dark, out of the canopies on hidden lands and into the light of legal, permitted, licensed cultivation, sales, research, and manufacturing.
The reality is cannabis is a huge powerhouse economically and agriculturally – it is here and likely to be legalized for recreational use, if not on Tuesday, then in the near future.
Therefore we all have an obligation to learn, participate, and provide input for the future of how we deal with the impending reality. Every city, county and state in America will have to contend with the future of cannabis through the lenses of public policy, law enforcement, land use, and neighborhood compatibility.
The cannabis industry has had significant economic, environmental, public safety and health impacts in Sonoma County. With the recent passage of the Medical Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MCRSA) and the potential legalization for adult use, those impacts will become even more pronounced. The industry also presents significant opportunities for our residents, and we are working on policies to amplify those beneficial opportunities while protecting our communities from any negative impacts.
Last January, the Board of Supervisors created the Medical Cannabis Ad Hoc Committee, with Supervisor Efren Carrillo and myself appointed to serve on the committee. It is guiding the development of policy options and working with staff to bring a comprehensive regulatory scheme to the full Board by the end of this calendar year.
The local regulatory scheme is intended to be consistent with California state law. The new state law eliminates the cooperative/collective model the industry has been operating under, and replaces it with a licensing scheme for a commercial medical cannabis industry. The law provides substantial local control by requiring businesses to obtain a local license or permit before applying for a state license. Therefore, the Ad Hoc and staff are investigating opportunities to permit the entire supply chain including nurseries, cultivation, distribution, transportation, lab testing and manufacturing.
The Ad Hoc Committee and staff have conducted extensive community outreach including establishing a website, mail list, and project-dedicated email, developing an online survey, and holding town hall meetings in each supervisorial district and meetings with various stakeholder interest groups. The town hall meetings drew an estimated 600 unique attendees and over 1,100 people responded to the online survey.
Based on feedback from the community, research and guidance from the Ad Hoc Committee, county staff is in the process of drafting a land use ordinance and policies related to health and safety. After several meetings, the Planning Commission accepted staff’s recommendation while adding more restrictions to commercial cultivation within the Rural Residential land use, and allowing expanded uses within industrial zones.
Final Planning Commission action will take place on November 17. All information, including policy discussion papers and video of the hearings, is available here
The Planning Commission’s recommendations will be combined with non-land use related regulations, which are scheduled to come before the Board of Supervisors for a public hearing on December 6, 2016. Also on that date the Board will consider a potential taxation initiative for a special election in March or June to raise the resources necessary to permit, enforce and educate about cannabis in our County.
Prior to the Board of Supervisors action, there is another opportunity for the community to participate: Cannabis Community Workshop, Friday, December 2, 5:30 p.m., Glaser Center, Santa Rosa. You may also provide feedback to staff directly at [email protected].
In closing, I have spent countless hours with people from all sides of this issue and like you, I am learning. I have heard from neighbors who are subject to noxious odors for months as well as landowners who cannot walk their own properties in the harvest season because of illegal grows with armed guardians. I have heard from industry experts who want to bring cannabis into the fully legal realm while protecting smaller scale growers from being pushed out by huge corporate interests. I’ve learned from many the medicinal benefits of cannabis and more are being discovered through research every year.
I have toured an illegal cannabis farm, recently raided by the sheriff’s department, and seen the environmental devastation left behind. I have spoken to cannabis cultivators who want a safer environment with federal banking laws that allow for proper taxation and would prevent the allure of home invasions by violent predators. This conversation must involve all of the community because the impacts, both positive and negative, will be felt by all of us. The only certainty is that legalization of cannabis is coming, and we must be prepared.
