Cannabis policy not based on science, according to researcher
b'March 15, 2021 \\u2014 Cannabis is in the spotlight this week. With the Planning Commission scheduled to hear about major changes to the Phase IIII cannabis ordinance this Friday, informational events about various aspects of cannabis have been highly visible.\\nThe Cannabis Business Association of Mendocino County is hosting an event this afternoon at 4pm on the MendoVoice facebook page, about a proposal to align the county\\u2019s regulations more closely with the state\\u2019s by introducing a discretionary land use model requiring use permits. Environmental arguments against the proposed ordinance concern the already existing water shortage and the desire to preserve open lands for wildlife.\\nMost public policy regarding cannabis is not based on science, according to Phoebe Parker Shames, a PhD candidate at the Brashares Lab at UC Berkeley who has devised an experiment to test the impact of noise and light from cannabis grows on wildlife. \\nLast week, the Hopland Research and Extension Center hosted her virtual presentation to a crowd that included local county and tribal government leaders, ecologists, and small cannabis farmers.\\nParker Shames expects to conduct her wildlife monitoring research over the next two years, involving three sites each at the Hopland Research and Extension Center and Angelo Reserve. She\\u2019s gathered some observational data, like a stunning game cam shot of a mountain lion in front of a cannabis grow, but says that\\u2019s not enough. What\\u2019s needed, she believes, are experiments.\\nParker Shames, whose work is funded by the Bureau of Cannabis Control, plans to set up the light and noise conditions of a cannabis farm at her six sites and monitor the reactions of a wide range of animals at various distances from the sites, including some collared deer at Hopland. Game cameras are set up to capture the activity of larger mammals. There will be acoustic monitors for birds and bats, and traps for insects. There\\u2019s also an ingenious device involving a bucket and a short fence to capture the reactions of small land-based animals.\\nShe\\u2019s not expecting a full set of data until a couple of years after she completes the experiment. Until then, she has some advice for policy makers seeking to craft ordinances:\\n\\u201cStart with the farmers. Look to existing research, and make informed guesses.\\u201d'