Pubdate: Tue, 15 Dec 2015
Source: Sacramento Bee (CA)
Copyright: 2015 The Sacramento Bee
Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/0n4cG7L1
Website: http://www.sacbee.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/376
Author: Erika D. Smith

TRYING TO GET USED TO THE SMELL OF LEGAL WEED

Thousands Attend Emerald Triangle Festival for Cannabis Industry

With New Regulations for Medical Weed Coming, Many Are Happy

Others Are Wary of Changes That Will Cost Them More Money, Time

Tim Blake shook his head in awe as he stepped out of the smoky 
shadows and into the spotlight of a stage at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds.

Behind him, two huge red banners, each emblazoned with a cannabis 
leaf, hung unapologetically above the tables of trophies made to look 
like intricately blown glass bongs. Before him, thousands of weed 
aficionados were on their feet, cheering. A thick curl of pungent 
blunt smoke wafted by, not that anyone else besides me turned around 
to find the source.

Really, I should've been used to the smell by then. (Contact high? Check!)

It was Sunday, the final day of the annual ode to weed known as The 
Emerald Cup, "the Oscars of the outdoor cannabis industry." Awards 
were about to be given out - for best edibles, best flower and so on 
- - and people were ready. Ready, if nothing else, to get back to the 
tents where cannabis was being served up in every imaginable form to 
anyone with a valid medical marijuana card.

Blake, for his part, seemed to be in a bit of shock about his 
surroundings. I can't say I blame him.

In just 12 years, the event he created has gone from a clandestine 
competition in the mud between a few cultivators in Mendocino, 
Humboldt and Trinity counties, to one that is held at a legitimate 
venue and, this year, drew more than 21,000 people to Santa Rosa.

"We had more people here yesterday than we did all of last year," 
Blake said to raucous applause.

The arc reflects that of the cannabis industry itself. California 
voters authorized medical marijuana way back in 1996. But it wasn't 
until this year that state lawmakers, at the urging of Emerald 
Triangle growers, passed a package of laws to regulate it. A ballot 
initiative that would legalize it for recreational use is in the works, too.

That means that soon growers who have been operating in the shadows 
for decades with inconsistent rules and the threat of incarceration 
will face a highly structured process to become legitimate 
businesses. There will be cultivation permits, plus policies on using 
pesticides and diverting water. Growers who've made a habit of 
destroying all their paper records instead will have to save and 
organize them to meet the California Department of Food and 
Agriculture's "seed-to-sale" monitoring system.

In short, the industry is being asked to grow up.

That's exciting. Thrilling, really. It's a reason to celebrate, as 
speaker after speaker did during panel discussions at The Emerald Cup.

"Six years ago when I started this business, I was just trying to 
stay out of jail," marveled James Slatic, an entrepreneur in the 
cannabis industry. "Now we're talking about Periscope (a 
live-streaming app) and platforms and building your brand."

But look closer and you'll see that a good number of growers are 
wholly unprepared for such a transition. While experts droned on 
about new regulations, taxes and making the industry more inclusive 
to women and minorities, people - OK, the sober people - in the back 
of each room nodded along with overwhelmed expressions.

"Be careful what you ask for," they seemed to be thinking, "because 
you just might get it."

They still want to live and work with the wanton abandon of kids, to 
smoke their plants instead of sending them to a lab for 
quality-control testing - and that mindset was evident at The Emerald Cup, too.

The medical marijuana zone was what I imagine Snoop Dogg's dreams 
look like most nights. Weed everywhere. People praising the plant's 
ability to heal and save the world. Clouds of it from blunts, bongs 
and vapor cigarettes, in soda and in lotion.

In the midst of it all, one group of guys stumbled up to me.

"Have you seen the cookies?" one asked.

"Nope," I shook my head."I haven't seen any cookies."

"What?" his voice going up an octave, with the petulance of a 
30-something man-child. "They said they were over here!"

"Well, I just came from that way," I said, pointing through a cloud 
of secondhand smoke and toward someone chowing down on a plate of 
organic Indian food. "I can assure you, there are no cookies."

The cookie vendor, whom I found a short time later, was very nice and 
extremely knowledgeable. She wasn't afraid of quality control or the new laws.

Such are the dual worlds of The Emerald Cup and, indeed, the cannabis 
industry. Uniting them will be a sobering challenge.
- ---
MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom