Pubdate: Mon, 22 Mar 2010
Source: Times-Standard (Eureka, CA)
Copyright: 2010 Times-Standard
Contact: http://www.times-standard.com/writeus
Website: http://www.times-standard.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1051
Author: Donna Tam, The Times-Standard
Posted: 03/22/2010 01:27:13 AM PDT

\'WHAT'S AFTER POT?' LOCAL BUSINESSES, COMMUNITY LEADERS, MARIJUANA 
INDUSTRY REPS TO MEET ABOUT A POST-POT ECONOMY

In what may be an unprecedented event, residents, local business
people, officials and those involved in the marijuana industry are
planning to meet Tuesday night and break a long-standing silence to
talk about what supposedly is the backbone of Humboldt County's
economy -- pot.

More specifically, the meeting will focus on the potential economic
effects of the legalization of marijuana.

"It's time to talk about the elephant in the room," said organizer
Anna Hamilton.

A Shelter Cove resident, Hamilton said she is "intimately involved"
with the marijuana industry and has seen the market get worse over
time due to changing marijuana laws.

"I've lived here 20 years and every time there's been a discussion, an
open discussion, about marijuana, it has emboldened people to grow
more pot with less fear," she said. "As it's become more widely grown,
the prices dropped. The effect on our local economy is harsh."

With the legalization of marijuana a hot button topic in local and
statewide government, Hamilton said now is the time to think about
what can be done to protect residents when marijuana is legal.

In addition to ballot measures aiming to legalize marijuana for
recreational use, a bill for legalization is also being promoted as a
way to save the state's ailing economy.

A 2009 analysis from the State Board of Equalization cites a 2006
report that estimates that $35.8 billion of pot was grown in the
United States in 2006, with California being the top producing state.
The same report said California produced $13.6 billion in marijuana in
2006.

Third District Supervisor Mark Lovelace, who is the co-chair of a
California State Association of Counties working group on marijuana,
said that with the movement around legalization building, now is an
important time to figure out what problems need to be addressed.

"We have to recognize that if we have something that is this big a
piece of our economy that is subsidized by being illegal, that this is
an unsustainable situation," he said.

Hamilton believes it will be "devastating" to the North Coast region
- -- or, what is referred to as the Emerald Triangle -- and would
displace thousands of people who grow, process and distribute marijuana.

She said she believes the county has branding options that could help
it capitalize on marijuana, even after legalization. Efforts should
focus on helping residents, particularly Southern Humboldt residents,
learn business skills to assist their agricultural vocations.

"We have to embrace marijuana tourism, marijuana products and services
- -- and marijuana has to become a part of the Humboldt County brand,"
Hamilton said.

She is expecting members of the Garberville Rotary, the medical
community, "self-employed rural residents" and representatives from
the Humboldt Area Foundation and the Humboldt County Board of
Supervisors to attend.

Kathy Moxon, director of community strategies at the Humboldt Area
Foundation, said she hopes to have a conversation about positive
things that can be done for the economy, and how residents feel about
their economic status.

"It could be a healthy conversation about how it's going to affect our
community economically, and what we can do," she said. "There needs to
be something regionally."

Lovelace said he hopes people are realistic that this initial meeting
is not going to produce answers right away.

"There are a lot of blanket assertions about how this will affect our
economy for better or for worse," he said. "And that we don't really
know, because we haven't really had this discussion at a community
level before. I think there's enough potential for change out there,
and enough things in the works out there that this is the time to have
that discussion."

Hamilton said the marijuana industry is not as seedy or lucrative as
the public thinks. She said many growers are simply trying to support
their families doing the only work that is available.

"When you think about marijuana, you think about these big-timers, but
I think the profile of the ultra-rich in the marijuana society
parallel those of the regular society -- most people are not
ultra-rich," she said. 
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