Sunday, June 08, 2008

Arcata makes the New York Times

Marijuana Hotbed Retreats on Medicinal Use
...Under the 1996 law, known as Proposition 215, patients need a prescription to acquire medicinal marijuana, but the law gave little guidance as to how people were to acquire it. That gave rise to some patients with marijuana prescriptions growing their own in limited quantities, the opening of clubs to make it available and growers going large scale to keep those outlets supplied.

In turn, that led to the kind of worries that have bubbled up in Arcata, home of Humboldt State University, where town elders say roughly one in five homes are “indoor grows,” with rooms or even entire structures converted into marijuana greenhouses.

That shift in cultivation, caused in part by record-breaking seizures by drug agents of plants grown outdoors, has been blamed for a housing shortage for Humboldt students, residential fires and the powerful — and distracting — smell of the plant in some neighborhoods during harvest.

“I naïvely thought it was a skunk,” said Jeff Knapp, an Arcata resident who has a neighbor who is a grower...

For some, growing has become a second career. In Arcata, a 29-year-old man, who asked that his name not to be used for fear of arrest, said that he earned about $25,000 every three months from selling marijuana grown in a back room to club owners from Southern California.

But others in Arcata are less welcoming. Kevin L. Hoover, the editor of the local newspaper, The Eye, has made a practice of confronting people he believes are growing marijuana. Their houses are easy to spot, he said — covered windows, tall fences, cars coming and going late at night. “Sometimes the whine of fans,” he said.

Those fans, of course, are eating electrical power, something that also irks many....


Made FOX, too.

Last week it was the LA Times. Marijuana 'grow houses' are creating problems in Arcata, Calif.

This AIN'T the kind of publicity Gallegos' Lead Campaign Consultant Michael Shellenberger was able to get for the pot growers. THIS is the backlash.

And by the way, Kevin is paying a price for speaking up, from what I hear. So, let your voice be heard if you support what he is doing. I do.

29 comments:

  1. Your back Rose!

    And you read the times? That liberal rag?


    Maybe your finally coming around!

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  2. was on FOX NEWS too ..
    http://www.foxnews.com/video/index.html?playerId=videolandingpage&streamingFormat=FLASH&referralObject=1182210&referralPlaylistId=b895e6943a20a5ba0d5beadb011b18b7ea0a1398




    And other papers are running the LA and NY Times peices, as they were both listed "AP" so verious shorty versions are coming out everywhere.

    Now for side two ... My MJ cliping service gets 2 or 3 grow house peices from every state and country (Canada, US, Aus, England et al) the same "big problem" (ahum) is happening everywhere.

    Some who sit in Humboldt, think that we are spical and our problems unique, they are NOT. Grow house conversions are so comen around the world a Show time series is made about them "WEEDS"

    There everywhere, untill we TAX and Legailze it - codify it - Like Arcata is working on right now. We'll see this 'gang-star' crap.

    Know any bootlegers? Nope - they were whiped out soon after proabition ended. Same with MJ - make it legal - and suddenly it won't be cost effective to 'convert a home' weather in Arcata or the suberbs of LA or anywhere!

    Nice to see you back Rose

    Yours,
    Deep T

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  3. Just a minor glimpse into what happens when progressives run the place. If they screwed this up so bad by acceding to the wishes of the loudmouth pot advocates, how do you think they'll run things like, say, universal health care, and everything else. Say what you want about the conservatives, they have way better business and regulatory sense. 215 was never about medicine, it was all about getting a foot in the door to break the law legally.

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  4. Wow Deep T, you might have the worst grammar skills ever! Regardless, this blog bores me to tears, mostly because Rose so frequently reproduces printed articles in her posts.

    Geez, give the readers a little credit to click the article link for themselves, and also keep in mind that republishing copyrighted material (such as a New York Times original article) is against the law, and you should really stop doing it.

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  5. Hi Rose,

    What kind of backlash is Hoover getting from his NYT video? Also, is it even legal for him to go to people's front doors with a camera crew and ask them about their medical issues?

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  6. Deep T! Good to hear from you!

    Have to say I agree with both you and Walter.

    As for 10:10, guess you didn't read the article, it's quite lengthy and that is an excerpt with a link.

    10:11, Freedom of Speech, 60 minutes, investigative reporting, speaking truth to power (one of your favorite lines turned back on you, I guess... real people in real neighborhoods who have had it with liars and thieves, take your pick.

    However it happens, it's time for the sham that is 215 to end. If the intent was to legalize it, let it be. Stop the pretense.

    And if not, at least enforce the limits - 99 plants, not thousands, not a plantation, a 10x10 foot space not a 2000 square foot rented house, personal use, NOT outright dealing.

    And if you're going to have a grow house, BUY the damn thing, don't wreck someone else's property. Better yet, but some AG land and grow it there.

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  7. Couldn't agree more, if they're gonna grow it they need to NOT deal it like drugs, not destroy property that does not belong to them, and be prepared to deal with journalists and city officials who are concerned for the safety of the community.

    I thought this related article was interesting: http://news.humcounty.com/Kevin_Hoover_Takes_NY_Times_to_Arcata_Grow_House.html

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  8. oh apparently they don't automagically become clickabkle links: how about this one: http://news.humcounty.com/Kevin_Hoover_Takes_NY_Times_to_Arcata_Grow_House.html

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  9. Rose what price is Kevin Hoover paying for "speaking up"?

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  10. "Just a minor glimpse into what happens when progressives run the place. If they screwed this up so bad by acceding to the wishes of the loudmouth pot advocates,"

    I'd disagree that Roger Rodoni was any form of a progressive,but TR was also called a progressive as well.Don't know why so many are so eager to further satisfy growers,who are the only ones to benefit from more arcane drug enforcement ideals.This measure passing won't do a damn thing to alleviate the problem,except fatten the wallets of some more growers.

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  11. all this free advertisement for humboldt weed cant be a bad thing!!! the price should be rising as we speak and more potential growers are flooding across the mendo-humboldt border.

    its funny when actions bring about unintended consequences. more enforcement brings MORE growing. havent we learned anything yet?

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  12. I had the same thought, Theo.

    I know quite a few people who wistfully note that they could be worry free if they just started growing - and selling - pot. They choose not to for two reasons. 1. Morality - surprisingly more of a factor than you might imagine, and 2. Fear of prosecution.

    With the latter all but nonexistent anymore, barriers are coming down.

    So - what's the verdict? Make it legal for every single person in this county to grow and sell - make all Humboldt County citizens to become wealthy? Is it any different than tobacco? Tobacco farmers are even subsidized.

    You're gonna need to start liking developers if you do this, though because as Theo points out there'll be a gold rush into Humboldt County, and they'll all need a place to live in addition to the houses they fill up with dirt.

    Ahh, yes, it is a brave new world.

    Our best and brightest are putting their talents into increasing highs instead of growing better tomatoes, solving world hunger and other more worthy endeavors. Aren't we proud.

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  13. Ok Rose I just gotta comment on this. You said "Our best and brightest are putting their talents" into pot growing rather than more socially beneficial projects, but damn, you couldn't be more wrong!

    Pot growers are anything but bright, and they generally have few real-world skills, based on my experiences with them, and I have encountered many, many pot growers over the years here in Humboldt County. For starters, most of them don't even grow good pot! But beyond that, all these idiots in Arcata that Kevin Hoover is so mad at--you know, the guys who are pulling the house numbers off their homes and burning down their rentals with shoddy indoor gardens--they are definitely not intelligent by any measure. These aren't botanists, they aren't even good gardeners. They're mostly just stoners and leachers who somehow found enough financing to start up a grow and live the easy life schlepping dirt around town and buying overpriced chemicals like the Humboldt Nutrients crap that was so blatantly displayed in the grow room of the Arcata grower who was featured in the New York Times video.

    And now that there is a "profession" which can earn an uneducated weed smoker more annual income than a typical salesman, office clerk, or hospital nurse, why the hell would anyone want to go to college, develop valuable skills, give back to their community, or even pay income taxes for that matter?

    *sigh* This is Humboldt County, where the weak and scared have been fleeing to for decades to escape the trials of life beyond the redwood curtain. Now it's just even worse. And yeah, in case you haven't noticed, it's been a gold rush for over 10 years, mostly because of the pot growing but also because of the extremely liberal social programs (read: free money for lazy people) that we are so well-known for across the nation.

    I do want to say that if the county did suddenly decide to go for it with pot growing, which means regulation but ample opportunity for everyone to get involved, this could become a very, very wealthy county. If only people could be made to pay taxes on their weed money, don't you think there would be a surge in local philanthopism? Sure, Arkley gives a lot back to the community, but he's still a greedy businessman. If you could make a cool $100,000 extra per year from your spare bedroom, wouldn't you do something good for your community?

    Also, to 10:51, thank you for the link :)

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  14. rose said"
    "So - what's the verdict? Make it legal for every single person in this county to grow and sell - make all Humboldt County citizens to become wealthy?"

    a.wealth is a good thing

    b.very few growers nowadays are wealthy(high costs,low prices)

    c.if it became legal on a scale larger than Humboldt County, the price would plummet and growers would leave the area. there would be no demand for humboldt weed. if it became legal JUST in humboldt county, we would have more growers due to the huge increase in demand. its all about supply and demand, as with anything...

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  15. Good points, news.humboldtcounty.com. I guess I was thinking about the people I knew back in the 70s, young college kids, some botany majors, who got into the whole male plant/female plant thing, they definitely studied and learned, and tried new things, but their efforts went into this useless thing that sapped their drive and initiative.. my observation anyway.

    Wealth is a good thing, Theo? Ohhh, boy, you're just tryin' to get all these guys mad - they hate wealth!

    And, hey, I thought one of the points of 215 was that you could grow the shit openly, in your garden, like the weed it is, without fear of helicopters detecting a heat source - NOT so that you would convert your landlord's house into a growhouse.... or is just that all that infill has left the houses with no yards to grow the crap in?

    I don't know guys - I guess we are in that period of evaluating what it is we really care about. Neighborhoods? Homes?

    With all the politcal BS using "affordable housing" as a bludgeon... hypocrisy and disconnects, that's what I see.

    If ours is a generation that knows full well that pot is like booze - then why the hell has this generation produced a liar like Bill Clinton, who "didn't inhale" - zero tolerance in schools from a generation in which half the kids I knew came into class stoned - and now this pretense that is 215 - why not stand up and legalize it?

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  16. rose,
    the climate on the coast does not allow marijuana cultication without a greenhouse or indoor lighting.

    and yes, i think that wealth envy is being used unfairly in this issue. we live in a CAPITALIST country. when people cry out loud that people are getting rich, others are going to join on the bandwagon and try to get rich too.

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  17. "the climate on the coast does not allow marijuana cultication without a greenhouse or indoor lighting.".

    Don't be so sure about that, Theo. This one yard I work at, the guy's son planted a couple pot plants last summer. He made a raised bed planter on the west side of the house where there was also a fair amount of shade from trees.

    At first glance I figured no way would he be successful there because of so few hours of sunlight.

    I was surprised to see both the pot plants and tomatoes he grew there did quite well. Somewhat embarrassing for me as he was picking tomatoes off his plants well into fall, much later than I used to do growing my tomatoes in full sunlight.

    No, I never mentioned the pot plants to the guy I work for. I did tell him I was impressed with how well the tomatoes did, though.

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  18. Anonymous said...
    Rose what price is Kevin Hoover paying for "speaking up"?

    6/09/2008 11:06 AM


    Eureka Times Standard
    "BOYCOTT the ARCATA EYE"

    http://www.topix.net/forum/source/eureka-times-standard/TJ4E1PCI5EFQ2HN5S


    Its now 4 pages long and gets more and more weird as time goes by.

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  19. fred,
    how much did the kid harvest? of course you can grow PLANTS, but can you grow BUDS on them on the coast? i have heard that certain sativa strains will flower on the coast without molding, but i have my doubts.

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  20. Unreal. Nowhere in 215 did it make it legal to grow and sell for profit.

    You guys are talking like it's already been made legal to ignore all laws and regulations, go into business, and deal.

    At the same time you're going along with criminalizing talking on the cell phone while you are driving.

    If you can ignore the law, we all should. Period.

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  21. And I mean all laws. Take off those seatbelts, dismiss all the judges, all the cops. Drive as fast as you want. On any side of the road you want. Buy guns, and don't register them. You want some apples? Just go take 'em.

    If the little criminal growers get to do what they want - so should everyone else.

    Equal justice for all, eh, Paul. No matter how wealthy ruthless or sacrosanct.

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  22. http://www.topix.net/forum/source/eureka-times-standard/TJ4E1PCI5EFQ2HN5S/p2
    Bud Swell
    I thought the best part about Medical Marijuana was that you could provide it for yourself without having to be economically dependent on dealers or a company. Now Individuals and Companies like HMS want to move in and monopolize on a movement that was started before their businesses were up and running. Marijuana has been used for medicine since before 1996 when 215 was passed, Government approved or not, in Humboldt County long before the Greed Mongers stepped in to capitalize on the liberal view towards Marijuana in the area. It is a hobby for many people to cultivate and therapeutic to nurture and partake in. One only needs to think of the greed of families like the Rockefellers and the Hursts to remember that where money is involved, there will materialize greed, political trickery, media trickery, misuse of Government Agencies, vigilanteism, and sabotage of the will of the People to gain more money and wealth for the power hungry individuals that always need more of what others have.
    UlyseesLibelson Grant
    Gresham, OR
    Here is the LA Times article. I noticed that the descriptions of the problems mirrored those of Kevin Hoover's letter. Exactly how many tenants have cut holes in the sub-floor to let their plants grow in the ground below? I would be very surprised if it happened more than once.
    http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-pot31

    I believe that a more rational approach to this problem of grow house fires and damage would be to form a task force of building contractors, electricians, firefighters, building code inspectors, and Medical Marijuana advocate groups to form a certification program for residential Medical Marijuana cultivation to check for and advise residents of existing or potential safety hazards. A lack of Law Enforcement in such a certification process would make it a hassle free process that would ensure the safety of residents of houses where Marijuana is cultivated, as well as their neighbors' safety from spreading house fires.

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  23. a task force of building contractors, electricians, firefighters, building code inspectors, and Medical Marijuana advocate groups to form a certification program for residential Medical Marijuana cultivation to check for and advise residents of existing or potential safety hazards

    OH YEAH! MORE LAWS, MORE REGULATIONS FOR YOU TO IGNORE, MORE BUREAUCRACY TO PAY FOR - FOR WHAT? TO TRY TO GET PEOPLE WHO ALREADY AREN'T OBEYING THE LAW TO OBEY SOME PIECE OF THE LAW?

    ARE YOU JOKING?

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  24. no need to yell, pot has been legal since 1996 in california for a 10'x10' growing space(with a letter from a doc)........all this over a weed that has been used as medicine for thousands of years......

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  25. I call BS on that, Theo, we're not talking about medical users here. We're talking about the medical sham that is 215, or the people who are cheating the system.

    But it's not really the pot. It's the arbitrary enforcement of law. Doesn't matter whether it's pot or bubblegum, if the law is there, and you are letting people break it right and left, then NO laws matter.

    And NORML and all their buddies have enough power at this point in the game they could pass statewide legalization tomorrow. With the snap of a finger. With the idiots we now have sitting in state legislative offices? It could be done in an instant.

    So why hasn't it been? Have the courage of your convictions, pot advocates. Push for legalization. NOW. Stop lying and dancing around the truth.

    Then, deal with the zoning for AG growing. Let the current lawbreakers have to follow the letter of the law like the other businesses have to, let them pay taxes, and fees and fines.

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  26. i think the confusion caused by prop 215 was just what the proponents wanted. it sure has threw a wrench in the pot enforcement/prosecution industry....

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  27. thrown a wrench...not threw a wrench

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  28. Yeah. I know what you mean.

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  29. NORML took the correct stance and opposed Measure B knowing that it will only benefit growers.Can't knock normal on the lack of legalization issue as at least they see that more strict drug laws only help the most abusive perpetrators.Unfortunately,NORML can't do it alone as they fight against growers who prefer stricter laws and enforcement,and doctors and lawyers who bank massively on 215.

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