Cover Story of the 19 cannabis greenhouses that popped up along a four-mile stretch of road on the outskirts of Carpinteria have galvanized many critics. It may well be that the odor has diminished, as some insist, and that all the greenhouses are now equipped with odor-control systems. But these activists show little sign of going away and have vowed to appeal every single cannabis permit every step of the way. As Farrar is quick to note, the relative footprint of cannabis is tiny — almost infinitesimal—compared to all other forms of agriculture. But Santa Barbara County still has the most land legally under cannabis cultivation of any county in the state. And California’s legal cannabis market—last clocked in at $3.1 billion — is by far the biggest in the world. But again, success poses almost as many pitfalls for Farrar as failure. As a legal operator for whom state, county, and city taxes account for half his cost of production — Farrar is also at war with a black market that’s not just still thriving, but actually growing. The promise that Prop. 64 would help destroy the black market has thus far proved to be wishful thinking. Farrar claimed only 600 of the state’s 4,000 dispensaries were legally licensed. “That means 3,400 are technically black market,” he said. In Santa Barbara, two medicinally licensed, regulated home-delivery dispensaries have opened in the past year. Goleta has another two. But depending on whom one asks, there are anywhere from 10 to 26 unregulated home-delivery operations supplying the South Coast’s inextinguishable cannabis appetite.
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MAN IN THE GORILLA SUIT The battle over cannabis—its opportunities and its intrusions—will be endlessly religated until the county supervisors — and the regulators they control — get it right. By then, it will either be too late or irrelevant. In the meantime, it’s fair to say that Farrar’s success — and those of his fellow cannabis travelers in Carpinteria — have helped spark the political backlash that now threatens the political longevity of 1st District Supervisor Das Williams, who represents the Carpinteria Valley. Even as the county tightens the screws on noncompliant operators — 1.3 million plants destroyed, 42 tons of dry processed weed confiscated, and 36 warrants served — it will never be enough to make critics forget the chummy emails between Supervisor Williams and Farrar about going to a Santa Barbara Bowl concert together — they never did —or the thousands in campaign donations Farrar and his partners have made. For someone like Farrar, one question remains: Why do this? He’s already been blessed by more success than most entrepreneurs experience. But in three of those deals — WaveFront, Software.com, and Sonos — Farrar helped bring to life someone else’s vision. This one is his. And it could be huge. Former politicians from both sides of the aisle are lobbying to allow interstate distribution — under current law, all cannabis grown in California must stay in California. Should that come to pass, any permitted operation in Santa Barbara County — where the sun shines 340 days a year and the mercury’s north of 70 for 320 — would be worth infinitely more than it is right now. And it’s already worth a lot. As Larry Barels put it, “In any situation, there are two gorilla, four chimpanzees, and 100 monkeys. What you don’t want is to be one of those monkeys. Right now, Graham looks like he’s on track to be something between a gorilla and a chimpanzee.” n
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GREENHOUSE EFFECT: Graham Farrar (at top) stands in front of his Glass House Farms greenhouse in Carpinteria, where workers like Maria Carrizales (above right) “buck” the product, removing buds from the stems.
INDEPENDENT.COM
AUGUST 22, 2019
THE INDEPENDENT
19