URL: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v10/n584/a08.html
CANNABIS CONFERENCE CONTINUES: SOHUM MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION DISCUSSION MAKES ITS WAY TO NORHUM
Those invested in the pot industry down south are bringing the conversation to Northern Humboldt this weekend, with the hopes of having an all-inclusive conversation.
Following a discussion earlier this year on what will happen to the marijuana industry if pot is legalized, members of the recently formed Humboldt Medical Marijuana Advisory Panel ( HUMMAP ) are continuing the conversation by organizing.
March's unprecedented conversation, garnering the attention of local, state and national media, resulted in a discussion about how to make Humboldt County economically viable through third-party product regulation and the branding of an environmentally-friendly technique and product.
Organizer Anna Hamilton said this will be the first countywide cannabis conference and she hopes growers -- legal or otherwise -- will come to the table.
"You can't do harm reduction unless you have put on everybody's shoes," she said.
The line up will include local journalists, government officials, lawyers and medical cannabis experts, as well as those involved with the Bay Area cannabis industry. The meeting is scheduled from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Bayside Grange and features more than 15 speakers.
Hamilton said bringing in those from the outside will give local growers a chance to interact with people they may not agree with. Speakers will include Dan Rush of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 5, which recently unionized hundreds of medical marijuana workers, and Mauricio Garzon with the Proposition 19 campaign. Proposition 19 is an initiate to legalized and tax marijuana sales and will be on the ballot in November.
Another speaker will be Kevin Hoover, editor of the local newspaper the Arcata Eye. Hoover, who has gained national attention in recent years for trying to bring Arcata's illegal grow house issue to light, said he hopes to have a "rational discussion" at Saturday's meeting, especially considering how heated conversations about legalization can get. He said he recognizes HUMMAP's efforts to come up with a plan.
"We've got this multibillion dollar industry which is completely entangled and bound up in a bunch of non-sensical and contradictory laws ... rather than have this thing run away with itself, they are starting to come up with a framework," he said.
Hamilton said some Humboldt County growers may have animosity toward legalization or the large scale industry being proposed in the Bay Area, and she hopes Saturday's conference will be a good discussion.
Most of all, Hamilton hopes Humboldt growers come out of the meeting with a better sense of direction and a stronger voice.
"The people in the cities make the regulations without any understanding of how it affects the rural growers," she said. "We deserve a bigger place at the table when it comes to policy decisions here. And, after 30 years of contributing to economic development ... we have something to contribute, and we don't deserve to be marginalized anymore."
For the meeting's full list of speakers and a schedule, go to www.hummap.org .
IF YOU GO:
What: "Humboldt Cannabis -- A Future of Opportunity" cannabis conference
Where: Bayside Grange, 2297 Jacoby Creek Road, Bayside
When: 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday
CANNABIS CONFERENCE CONTINUES: SOHUM MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION DISCUSSION MAKES ITS WAY TO NORHUM
Those invested in the pot industry down south are bringing the conversation to Northern Humboldt this weekend, with the hopes of having an all-inclusive conversation.
Following a discussion earlier this year on what will happen to the marijuana industry if pot is legalized, members of the recently formed Humboldt Medical Marijuana Advisory Panel ( HUMMAP ) are continuing the conversation by organizing.
March's unprecedented conversation, garnering the attention of local, state and national media, resulted in a discussion about how to make Humboldt County economically viable through third-party product regulation and the branding of an environmentally-friendly technique and product.
Organizer Anna Hamilton said this will be the first countywide cannabis conference and she hopes growers -- legal or otherwise -- will come to the table.
"You can't do harm reduction unless you have put on everybody's shoes," she said.
The line up will include local journalists, government officials, lawyers and medical cannabis experts, as well as those involved with the Bay Area cannabis industry. The meeting is scheduled from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. at the Bayside Grange and features more than 15 speakers.
Hamilton said bringing in those from the outside will give local growers a chance to interact with people they may not agree with. Speakers will include Dan Rush of the United Food and Commercial Workers Union Local 5, which recently unionized hundreds of medical marijuana workers, and Mauricio Garzon with the Proposition 19 campaign. Proposition 19 is an initiate to legalized and tax marijuana sales and will be on the ballot in November.
Another speaker will be Kevin Hoover, editor of the local newspaper the Arcata Eye. Hoover, who has gained national attention in recent years for trying to bring Arcata's illegal grow house issue to light, said he hopes to have a "rational discussion" at Saturday's meeting, especially considering how heated conversations about legalization can get. He said he recognizes HUMMAP's efforts to come up with a plan.
"We've got this multibillion dollar industry which is completely entangled and bound up in a bunch of non-sensical and contradictory laws ... rather than have this thing run away with itself, they are starting to come up with a framework," he said.
Hamilton said some Humboldt County growers may have animosity toward legalization or the large scale industry being proposed in the Bay Area, and she hopes Saturday's conference will be a good discussion.
Most of all, Hamilton hopes Humboldt growers come out of the meeting with a better sense of direction and a stronger voice.
"The people in the cities make the regulations without any understanding of how it affects the rural growers," she said. "We deserve a bigger place at the table when it comes to policy decisions here. And, after 30 years of contributing to economic development ... we have something to contribute, and we don't deserve to be marginalized anymore."
For the meeting's full list of speakers and a schedule, go to www.hummap.org .
IF YOU GO:
What: "Humboldt Cannabis -- A Future of Opportunity" cannabis conference
Where: Bayside Grange, 2297 Jacoby Creek Road, Bayside
When: 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday
