"We're at the beginning of the end of Prohibition"
October 20, 2021 \u2014 With the repeal of the latest cannabis ordinance and deadlines looming, legacy growers are facing more uncertainty than ever. Growers have until the end of the month to submit their applications \u2014 again \u2014 through an online portal, and the end of the year to get licenses from the state. The moratorium on Phase III growers under the original cannabis ordinance, which has been reinstated, expires in March. And growers have been shelling out tens of thousands of dollars on environmental consultants and engineers to satisfy the state\u2019s requirements, especially from Fish and Wildlife.\n\u201cIt\u2019s been a horrendous experience,\u201d said Clifford Morford, a legacy grower who co-founded Heartrock Mountain Farm in Potter Valley with his son Daniel. They have been on the road to compliance for four years. Daniel is the optimistic one, though he compares the current historical moment to watching the Ranch Fire creep across the ridgelines to the edges of his farm, where fought it off with the help of friends and family. \u201cI feel like something\u2019s coming that\u2019s going to change the face of the cannabis industry in California,\u201d he reflected. He used another analogy to describe what he thinks the moment calls for: \u201cIt\u2019s the fourth quarter,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd we\u2019ve gotta throw a Hail Mary, gotta send one deep, score a touchdown, do a two-point conversion, and then maybe do a side kick and a fumble recovery and a field goal.\u201d\n\u201cI have less hope than Daniel does,\u201d his father admitted. \u201cHe says we\u2019re gonna make it, and we might. I\u2019m gonna do everything I can to make it happen. But I have a feeling that one day we\u2019re gonna wake up, and oh, it\u2019s over. And they won\u2019t care, the powers that be. It\u2019ll be easier to administer their program with five big farms in Salinas and a dozen down in Santa Barbara, and they\u2019ll grow all the weed we need, and everybody will be happy, except those that want the experience of smoking our weed.\u201d\nThe Morfords spent $12,000 to engineer two stream crossings in pursuit of a lake and streambed alteration permit (LSA) from Fish and Wildlife. That\u2019s not quite half of what the LSA has cost them so far, since it includes work on a pond and some planning and replanning of culverts. Daniel says they\u2019re still sitting on some product from last year, but not as much as some of their friends. They don\u2019t even know what the price will be this year. As Daniel got up to let the dogs out, Cliff made a key distinction. \u201cIt\u2019s easy to move it,\u201d he noted. \u201cIt\u2019s harder to get paid for it.\u201d\n\nMichael Katz is the Executive Director of the Mendocino Cannabis Alliance. He hears a lot of stories like the Morfords\u2019, and his optimism, too, is tempered with uncertainty. But he\u2019s hanging a lot of hope on news from county Cannabis Program Manager Kristin Nevedal about a checklist that serves as the site-specific environmental review that growers need to get their state licenses. Previously, he reported, it seemed like 90% of the growers trying to get through the system using the checklist, called Appendix G, would not make it. That does not seem to be the case anymore, \u201cand so while we don\u2019t know exactly what that means,\u201d he acknowledged, \u201cwe are still hopeful.\u201d\nAppendix G might not work for everyone who is trying to get legal under a county ordinance that does not have a discretionary permit process, which the state requires. There is also some confusion as to whether the deadline to submit applications is October 30th, or if applicants whose documents have not been reviewed by that date will be left out in the cold. \nThe online portal hasn\u2019t entirely eliminated the application headache. Katz reported that, \u201cdozens and dozens of folks who are trying to go along with what\u2019s being requested are finding that things are changing, things that are seemingly not related to certain requests are being asked for, and so this confusion has led to people having to re-submit their submissions, multiple times.\u201d\nNevedal was not available for an interview. She is working on a grant application for the county to receive $18 million from the state to get the local cannabis program in shape. Katz thinks this money signals a good faith effort on the part of the state to help legacy growers in jurisdictions that are having a hard time reconciling their ordinances with Prop 64 and other state rules. Finally, Katz\u2019 optimism, too, is tinged with an awareness of historical irony. \u201cCapitalism is not really designed to support small businesses,\u201d he observed. \u201cPeople are definitely viewing this time period as another extinction event among the community of small operators, who started the movement to create cannabis availability to everybody. Without the small farmers in California, there wouldn\u2019t be a legal cannabis market rolling across the world right now.\u201d\nAnd small cannabis farmers will go to extraordinary lengths to keep doing the thing they love. Daniel Morford, who writes poetry and jokes and attends seminars on the consciousness of pla...