Marijuana plants in the Carpinteria Valley, where officials have permitted the densest concentration of pot farms in the U.S.Lionel Neff, a critic of the proliferation of cannabis in the area, said “no one was surprised” by the raid at Brand’s Arroyo Verde farm, one of many operations accused of fouling the air in Carpinteria.
The Jan. 22 raid highlights how little officials knew about the operations they approved for state licensing. By summer of last year, growers in Santa Barbara County had obtained more state licenses than places like Humboldt and Mendocino. Humboldt now slightly edges out Santa Barbara, which after a backlash put a cap on the total number of acres that could be cultivated with pot countywide.
Fertilizer is blended with water at the greenhouse to feed the cannabis plants. Teachers at schools near such operations have complained about the smell.The stated goal of Santa Barbara’s cultivation program was to bring tens of millions in tax revenue. But the Board of Supervisors, guided by Bozanich, Williams and Lavagnio, created a system with loopholes.
As an indicator to how much of the cannabis is flooding the underground market: Sheriff searches of 29 unlicensed operators and 15 licensed ones turned up $294 million worth of illegal product, Melekian said. And with multiple crop cycles,over the course of a year. At the same time, licensed growers reported only $167 million in legal revenue in the last fiscal year to the county.
If it is illegal that happens. Nobody cried when BP got fined for an oilspill. Your paper is going out of business because you hire woke journalists who write with emotion and political viewpoint instead of fact. Nobody is going to miss you.
What about a solar roof⁉️
Legalize and regulate marijuana and thus crap stops
Is Kamala Harris the DA again?
The twitter page is really just a subscription generator. Sad.
Well, it is still a FEDERAL crime to grow and sell cannabis. POT us still classified as a class 1 drug. POT, in Canada was legalized federally. The US needs to do the same.
Can’t they just leave well enough alone?!? 🙄