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Humboldt Cannabis Reform Initiative: Prohibition 2.0 written by Ross Gordon @hcga_humboldt In late 2021, a small group of retired landowners in Kneeland contracted with a San Francisco-based attorney to write a ballot initiative which would overhaul the rules governing cannabis cultivation in Humboldt County. Several months later, the “Humboldt Cannabis Reform Initiative” - a 32-page, detailed legal ordinance proposing to fundamentally rewrite Humboldt’s cannabis ordinances - was born. The result is that, on March 5, 2024, the HCRI will appear on the ballot in Humboldt County, and voters will have the opportunity to vote to approve or reject this initiative. With the future of Humboldt cannabis in the balance, it’s imperative that voters are educated on what this initiative would do, and understand its likely impacts on small cannabis farmers, the environment, and Humboldt as whole. From the start, the marketing for the HCRI was deceptive. Circulated under the title “Large-Scale Commercial Cannabis Cultivation Restrictions” initiative, the HCRI’s proponents claimed that the purpose of the HCRI was to prevent large-scale, industrial cannabis agriculture in Humboldt County. In reality, however, only a small fraction of the initiative - two provisions out of 32 pages of new law addresses large-scale cultivation. The rest of the initiative, if passed, would impose dozens of new restrictions on all cannabis farmers in the county, of any size, down to the county’s smallest cultivators.
June 2023 Beyond The Goddess 50
