HomeMy WebLinkAboutWritten Communications - Chipmanvvp {keN oucMp�)V,\ca-�100s
San Diego's Permitted Marijuana Industry C1n��t�1Gl i�
Advertisements
Pedi-Cab at December Nights 2016 Pedi-Cab in front of
The Midway
DISPENSARY
i JH(W-CGM.A.
FINEST I SAFE I LEGAL
OPEN 9-9 DAILY
Urban Leaf tag line—A feel good drug boutique
DISPENSARY
.}THCSD.COM,�.
FINEST I SAFE I LEGAL
OPENS-9DAILY s _
THCSD.COM
9am - 9pm
Daily
(858) 324-2420—
The Healing Center, 3703 Camino de Rio South, San Diego
San Diego's Permitted Marijuana Industry
Customer Appreciation and Community Events
- _ _. _ ..
plpaeemwnrvmmmnp i�
San piegn Calif.mia
You're Invite I
plpw".,Mnmumnmup pabenl appredawn
erplansfa
wyonlamr...
sapICannhpl
alher Planum 5a!urday
51eP, CE.ua
'1(
yw[PI i[Gnee abort lmw)m
Shep3naat . Qy.ur laVori
llaa
Fauen'1<IeaMaMnJ onie
an
I...
a^o
d pe ry d d .ahilejammm9lo
Y i �
_
rcd lime ni
seggaeJe[e lwb pke a gguysl
til T
GotwmewilFalull bellyanda
St, 4. G. n. with
plpaamlmvxn,a<p �w_pnrceers y
dank
dank9ih bag
Turns
rv,lmaW2UmlioYm losM1!M
rI
a�
Ir
=3'
agh
l
a M:r9626@ra9 hkn
aryerB626 ®the'asbkigM1l
a 3 I
_
X:,.,0626 @stl<anruhklarmmsmaher
Safurday, May 20, 2017
h: nar.06 @snow{haprwin[t
Q Q
�
T3co5
560 viam
Dabbing inside Pt. Loma Patient Association
at Customer Appreciation Party
.M ROWWKAANNAA .dn® '�"j:}"' fr% RAFFLESS
MUSIC
03�jjgll qil®®NiOP!'!�AR I$ SPECIALaEALS
m6x�a @uv+nn bon @lealmiu
@wpJmlu vane<I.vm,allvrr>eum
rMYH IFrt up [vm6g SUMry. IN0
hmmam. Wsw aY<�Itlbxusm
unbryamyougnafitt Nihle. Prtymm
ukrlealu.
VwbiJe#gnlm xa,vehirm,mwny
raWsn zatlugmrcabu
rsmdapdapmwY aaardl�9emvGu+m
,[m 6 634 m.yroaarad<rda6.
edahw Y Tmaryarmwbe
w 44x«4 s m+n-N«a
VmaM1l Hrelgmi,4uga 4nl
NryandFcaO 1
xeeaM1unor Sd2
Q
u dlU
r�
San piegn Calif.mia
You're Invite I
tlmnapanmlcwr
erplansfa
'1
sapICannhpl
alher Planum 5a!urday
51eP, CE.ua
'1(
51e0 2.5: Tag. Mend
Shep3naat . Qy.ur laVori
'
a^o
d pe ry d d .ahilejammm9lo
Y i �
_
ah is
til T
GotwmewilFalull bellyanda
St, 4. G. n. with
dank
dank9ih bag
Turns
«,nn T< ...... .-a-
q
bnrnlnwdn6hing Awesame I will be Ihm e
Ir
@thrhealing
agh
�V
a M:r9626@ra9 hkn
aryerB626 ®the'asbkigM1l
har,.,8626@jusnikkey
_
X:,.,0626 @stl<anruhklarmmsmaher
Safurday, May 20, 2017
h: nar.06 @snow{haprwin[t
d—ninnid v. @bmiapem.±Q9
T3co5
Q
d Q
Live Music from DJ Reefah
mrk..
Giveaways
m6x�a @uv+nn bon @lealmiu
@wpJmlu vane<I.vm,allvrr>eum
rMYH IFrt up [vm6g SUMry. IN0
hmmam. Wsw aY<�Itlbxusm
unbryamyougnafitt Nihle. Prtymm
ukrlealu.
VwbiJe#gnlm xa,vehirm,mwny
raWsn zatlugmrcabu
rsmdapdapmwY aaardl�9emvGu+m
,[m 6 634 m.yroaarad<rda6.
edahw Y Tmaryarmwbe
w 44x«4 s m+n-N«a
VmaM1l Hrelgmi,4uga 4nl
NryandFcaO 1
xeeaM1unor Sd2
Q
u dlU
A,41 harborcollectivesandlegc
�y Qualcomm Stadium
harborcallectivesandlego Looks like another
beautiful day in sunny San Diego,
aharborcollective aharbormllectivesandiego
aweedpom laveed+marijuana Mhummefhl
rbestofsandiego lsandiego
ldowntawnsandlego*exvernea,uuf kt2017
ageslampdistna analionalcity achulawaa
lexlremeautofest 14201hllcrest lbestofbest
lweedstragram aweedstagnun420
medical.weed @CANNABIS
V Q
110 likes
/J
r�
i�
tlmnapanmlcwr
plPatleMn op (ome lan9vMM1
'1
hqs @lo.mal�'Ih31p
♦aLVJlom l-6
'1(
lawnemnnnn. <mpana4Sm
=a aa.wno
'
ewaiemi.*-,a
Y i �
_
6wne<w,aF,wF[+:wlinroi @•Fam.teee
onu�e««e 6:m rmbauad, anml.,
til T
agWutlmm bmgF[Nyou b/�Iq<
halve MresM1masoznrsua,mmatlio
P�ids Ny�a�in9 aFsd�Mwps
q
P mean a:3m�eadmnaa�nmrv.l,n,e
:mai<sw�i«<.m ywm
Fandngw ry asaM[eaa2Pwrsez
�V
goldem[alry,ems esantllegoma�e
nemnase.am...
_
num"_29 @dMeenlmmuno[rcp
mMng dvm hwnla 4�ner<amcer
d.nge?
Q
klk
Lym _
A,41 harborcollectivesandlegc
�y Qualcomm Stadium
harborcallectivesandlego Looks like another
beautiful day in sunny San Diego,
aharborcollective aharbormllectivesandiego
aweedpom laveed+marijuana Mhummefhl
rbestofsandiego lsandiego
ldowntawnsandlego*exvernea,uuf kt2017
ageslampdistna analionalcity achulawaa
lexlremeautofest 14201hllcrest lbestofbest
lweedstragram aweedstagnun420
medical.weed @CANNABIS
V Q
110 likes
/J
NBC NEWS
JAN 9 2018, 6:29 PM ET
Why California won't necessarily grow (all) America's marijuana
BY JAMES RAINEY
SALINAS, Calif. — This state has long been dubbed America's salad bowl, because of the ability of
California's industrial -scale farms to produce food in mass quantities. Beginning this year, it will also
begin widespread legal production of a very different crop.
The grower of more than one-third of the nation's vegetables and two-thirds of its fruits and nuts is
expected to begin providing an outsize share of its marijuana, after the drug became legal for
recreational use on Jan. 1. But it's still not clear who will produce all that pot: small growers, who have
been cultivating it for years; big agribusiness, with the resources for mass production; or the black
market, which will probably ignore the state's expensive new growing rules.
That uncertainty is because marijuana remains illegal under federal law and will be highly taxed and
expensive to produce under California law. That could slow the state from taking a leading production
role nationally, at least for legal cannabis, in the near term.
California is already an outsize contributor of black-market marijuana for the rest of the country, with
more than four-fifths of the 13.5 million pounds grown in the state last year ending up in other
markets, according to the state Department of Food and Agriculture. Much of that marijuana has
come from the Emerald Triangle, in the verdant northern reaches of the state. Estimates suggest the
state has produced as much as 80 percent of the nation's illicit marijuana.
Steve DeAngelo, the executive director of Harborside in Oakland, one of the state's biggest cannabis
dispensaries, and also a partner in a marijuana cultivation venture, hopes that the state can take
nearly as dominant a position as legal use spreads across the country.
"I see it as California's natural legacy, its destiny," he said, "to supply 50 percent of the legal U.S.
cannabis market."
Players who hope to strike it big in the state's newly legalized environment — under a ballot measure
approved by voters in November 2016 — are setting up farms throughout California, from former
flower hothouses in the Salinas Valley, to Silicon Valley warehouses, to farms in the high desert
community of California City.
The principals include people like DeAngelo, the pot evangelist who sold his first joint at age 15; the
son of reggae icon Bob Marley; former heavyweight boxing champion Mike Tyson; and Jeff Brothers,
a one-time Republican Party leader who plans to have military veterans tend his greenhouses.
Brothers, who ran cut -flower farms in Salinas for decades, said California's climate, labor pool and
deep experience in agriculture make it a natural to become a national leader in legal marijuana
production.
"When we no longer have a moratorium on delivering cannabis across state lines, California will end
up in the position where it ends up in virtually every other agricultural commodity, which is in a very
strong position or at the top," said Brothers. "I like to say these operations will become like a Mondavi
or Gallo of the industry."
F,
The ban on interstate shipments of marijuana remains in place, because the federal government still
deems the substance an illegal "Schedule One" drug. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration
(DEA) has long resisted petitions to change that status, which groups marijuana alongside drugs like
LSD, peyote and heroin. All are deemed to have "no currently accepted medical use and a high
potential for abuse."
The divide between the states and federal government became more pronounced last week, when
Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that he would give federal prosecutors the power to
prosecute marijuana crimes. It was not immediately clear whether U.S. attorneys would act on that
power, but it was a marked contrast from an Obama administration policy that shielded legalized
marijuana from federal intervention.
That hard line against pot also flies in the face of public opinion and the law in29 states, which allow
marijuana to be used for medical purposes. Eight states, including California, now also allow pot to be
used for recreational purposes.
Some states that have legalized recreational cannabis use, like Colorado, have seen legal cultivation
skyrocket, said Tom Adams of BDS Analytics, an industry analyst based in Boulder, Colorado. Grow
houses have mushroomed around the Rocky Mountain state and driven out most black-market
competitors, with only about 20 percent of sales now going to illicit operators, Adams said.
This may be partly because legal pot is price -competitive with the illegal product, since Colorado has
kept taxes relatively low, with a 15 -percent excise tax and sales taxes that average 6 percent,
depending on locality.
The state of Washington, in contrast, levies a 37 percent excise tax on legal marijuana sales, in
addition to sales taxes that average nearly 9 percent. That is keeping as many as half of
Washington's cannabis buyers on the black market, where taxes are not levied, according to BDS
Analytics.
Advocates of legal marijuana fear that high taxes in California — with state and local levies reaching
30 percent and higher — could also leave a sizable portion of the nation's biggest market to illicit
dealers.
The strict regulatory framework in California is estimated to add $560 a pound to the cost of
wholesale pot. That may be sustainable if indoor -cultivated pot prices remain above $2,000 a pound
wholesale. But growers worry that a glut from new cultivation will push the price sharply downward.
"Right now is the biggest time ever for cowboy production," said Bernard Steimann, CEO of People's
dispensary in Orange County, and also a partner in grow houses in the Salinas Valley, who fears
competition from unlicensed competitors.
Growers say they face several other hurdles that make the push into mass marijuana cultivation
something less than a gold rush.
One challenge is high costs. Contractors for everything from fencing to septic tank servicing also see
an opportunity in marijuana and are charging more. "For anything you want, there are two different
prices — one for the cannabis grower and one for the noncannabis grower," said Sergio Silva, a 35 -
year veteran of farming in Salinas, who has partnered with Steimann to grow marijuana.
Another challenge is building infrastructure. To grow at the maximum rate — turning five harvests in a
year—farmers need extra light. But several Salinas -area growers said their utility company, Pacific
Gas & Electric, has said they will have to wait a year, maybe two, for the capacity they need to fully
light their grow houses. (The utility said the work takes up to six months.)
Id cut flower facilities along Spence Road in Salinas will soon be converted to grow marijuana. Peter
DaSilva / for NBC News
The state was contemplating another brake on mega -growers: a one -acre limit on farms for the first
five years after legalization. Such limits are designed to prevent agribusiness from overwhelming the
long-time growers — many in the north end of the state —who had established the industry during its
many decades on the margins. But when interim regulations were issued in November, the one -acre
limit was not included.
Hezekiah Allen, executive director of the California Growers Association, who represents long-time
pot farmers, said the failure to limit the size of farms "rolled out the red carpet to big multinational
conglomerates" to take over the pot industry.
DeAngelo, of Oakland's Harborside dispensary, said that there will always be room for smaller
operators but that some California farms need to go big to compete with other states and to make
prices low enough for everyone to enjoy the benefits of pot.
"That is what we do really well in California," he said. "Produce good, high-quality crops in mass and
at a low cost."
f
mm
0-
oo