News&Comment

chronic state: how marijuana normalization impacts communities

Marijuana normalization is a propaganda technique used by pro marijuana advocates to minimize the damages of marijuana. They use terms like “medicine”, or “less harmful than alcohol”, or any number of other terms used to make marijuana seem like it is no big deal. It is a tactic that marijuana advocates have used for decades to…
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Another pot murder in rural Sonoma. Thanks Board of Supervisors for bringing us the pot industry

Another pot murder in Sonoma County. 10 out of the last 12 murders in the County were pot related. This story below reads exactly like a Sopranos episode. Bucolic West Dry Creek Road is now a gang infested murder zone apparently. Thanks Board of Supervisors for your focus on bringing the pot industry to Sonoma…
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Skunk smell from marijuana crops driving Californians to distraction

We don’t want a marijuana smell, we want fresh air’ The smell from marijuana crops is driving Californians to distraction. Marijuana has become a new crop of choice in the farmlands surrounding Carpinteria, in south California. Residents say a thick, skunk-like odour from the marijuana plants settles over the valley in the evenings and before dawn. We don’t…
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Parks Sales Tax? – Why would the Regional Parks Department want to reduce setbacks… – To parks????

Dear Supervisor Gorin, I has just come to my attention that the Regional Parks Department is now supporting reducing the setbacks for cannabis grows to 1000 ft from the grow site, not the current 1000 ft from the parcel boundary to the park.  I urge you not to support this proposed revision, which would have…
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July 2018 Issue of the Bennett Valley VOICE Newsletter – Status of Commercial Marijuana Grows in Bennett Valley

Eleven potential commercial marijuana projects have surfaced within the Bennett Valley Area Plan. The county makes it very difficult to learn of a grow in our area, and without formal public record requests many would remain hidden. We live in the Internet Era, and it is peculiar that no county web site contains this information.…
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Addressing the Environmental Impacts of Marijuana Cultivation

A Growing Problem Over the past two decades California has watched marijuana cultivation boom without putting a plan in place to reduce the harmful effects on the environment. The drought has dramatically exposed marijuana production’s negative impacts on sensitive rivers and streams. As production expands and the possibility increases that recreational marijuana could be legalized,…
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HERE IS WHAT YOU CAN EXPECT WHEN YOU LIVE NEXT TO A SO-CALLED LEGAL LICENSED POT GROW

Urban Oregon Legalized marijuana, but rural Oregon is paying the price CARTEL TYPE BEHAVIORS It was Urban Oregon who legalized marijuana, but it is rural Oregon that is paying the price, and it was the Oregon legislature who redefined marijuana as an agricultural crop, which allowed large commercial marijuana grows to set up next to…
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Nothing says rural, country living like a Berlin Wall. What, no gun towers?

Wall going up for new pot grow in Penngrove. This is 1/3 final length. Is this what you want in your neighborhood? Is this helping Sonoma County? Or is it really only good for some pot growers? If it needs a giant damn security wall, maybe it doesn’t belong in our rural county. Stay tuned,…
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OPINION: PD’s Recent Cannabis Poll

By Grace Guthrie The Press Democrat published an article on June 3 of their cannabis poll results from 500 county voters; three questions asked about cannabis safety, grow location, and crime. I’d like to provide two statistics not explicitly stated in the article and explain why I think they are important to your readers. First, 77%…
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Cannabis crop expansion into forests threatens wildlife habitat, causes other environmental damage

November 2, 2017, Ithaca College Cannabis is grown in a greenhouse. Credit: Seastock Planting cannabis for commercial production in remote locations is creating forest fragmentation, stream modification, soil erosion and landslides. Without land-use policies to limit its environmental footprint, the impacts of cannabis farming could get worse, according to a new study published in the November…
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