Cannabis 2018

in Sonoma County A SPECIAL REPORT A special publication of The Healdsburg Tribune, The Cloverdale Reveille, The Windsor Times and Sonoma West Times & News

August 16, 2018

Trapped in conception Cannabis and

the environment

Small growers find it challenging to step out of the dark

in an industry that wants to be seen as green, what are the real impacts? The answer is, no one knows for sure.

By E.I. Hillin Sonoma West Publishers Staff t’s no secret that people in Sonoma County were growing cannabis before the January 1 legalization took place. Now, those who want to cultivate for profit can do so legally, but for most cannabis growers, coming out into the light can be a risky move.

“We came out to be compliant, but when we do we get hit over the head,” said cannabis farmer Tatum Trantham.

Trantham is one of three business partners of Sonoma Reserve, Inc., a cannabis farm in the Palmer Creek area. He said their goal is to be the number one cannabis cultivator in the county that is fully compliant with the law.

“It’s been tough because of clarification and because of opposition,” said Vasco de Mello, Sonoma Reserve, Inc. chief executive officer.

De Mello said the team has been working with the county to make sure they follow all regulations. The process has taken more than a year and cost $800,000 to $900,000 in property acquisition and permits. None of the partners say they have seen a profit in return.

“We are struggling to survive

By Heather Bailey Sonoma West Publishers Staff

I

See Growers Page 4

hen you hear anti-cannabis groups complain about the impacts of legal cultivation, one concern that is often expressed is the impact on natural resources and the environment caused by growing cannabis. But how significant are those impacts, and what do they consist of? The answer is, it’s hard to say.

The research on impacts is limited and has been done almost exclusively on illegal grows. The fact they were illegal limited funding for research, limited what grows could be studied and creates significant questions as to whether the research findings can be predictive of the impacts from legal operations.

Sonoma County cannabis ordinances for legal cultivation have a strong environmental protection component, including pages of regulations about water and watersheds alone.

But are they enough? Research into environmental impacts of legal operations are in their infancy, so it may take time and research to determine best practices.

W

Photo E.I. Hillin

farmer — It’s an ever-changing landscape for cannabis cultivators in Sonoma

County, and maintaining compliance can be an expensive and challenging venture, says cannabis grower David Drips.

DebriS — Irrigation lines removed from an illegal grow in an open space and parks area. While damage from illegal operations is more obvious, much more research is needed to determine environmental impacts from legal grows.

Photo courtesy Sonoma County Agricultural and Open Space District

See environment Page 4

Cannabis is not your average good ol’ boy industry products for women out there … we really found this need and this void,” said Gore. “We (set out to) try to provide education and products for women to find another tool for their wellness tool chest.”

In the past, The Garden Society has also hosted in-home parties for women to educate them on cannabis use. The parties don’t involve the company’s products, but serve as a way of educating those who may not have been comfortable with cannabis use in the past.

Talking to prospective consumers isn’t the only way women are getting involved in education. Active groups

Women in cannabis are educators, leaders, business owners

By Zoë Strickland Sonoma West Publishers Staff he women involved in the cannabis industry have built an infrastructure of support around them.

From the now disbanded Sonoma County Women Grow chapter to the Women’s Cannabis Business Development (WCBD) to WEmpowered, the cannabis industry in Sonoma County has a strong female backbone.

“I think it’s really exciting, because it’s a new industry, there’s not that glass ceiling, there’s not that good ol’ boys club,” said Shannon Hattan, co-founder and CEO of Fiddler’s Greens and cofounder of WCBD. “We’re able to define this industry the way we want to right now and, if you can get through the regulations and if you can find the money, there’s really no limit to what people can do in this industry.”

Many of the women who are involved in the local cannabis industry have used this as an opportunity to develop their businesses and to promote educational pathways for those who may be interested in cannabis.

“There’s been more opportunity for women to come out, there’s less gender bias because it’s a new indus-

T

connecTionS — People Need

TincTureS — Shannon Hattan’s company Fiddler’s Greens creates tinctures, balms and pre-rolls.

People founder Stacy Bryant focuses on helping staff cannabis-focused companies.

try (and) there’s also a lot of media that helps promote women in the industry,” said Erin Gore, founder and president of The Garden Society and co-founder of WEmpowered.

Gore along with Karli Warner, who does marketing and communication for The Garden Society, started The Garden Society in an effort to produce products that are geared more toward women. Both Gore and Warner were drawn to cannabis because of stressors in their lives; they wanted to create products and host educational sessions for people who may be dealing with similar issues.

“We realized that there weren’t

confecTionS — Erin Gore and Karli

Warner hold up the sweets created by The Garden Society.

like WCBD host educational events for business owners, growers and the canni-curious of all genders — even if their names suggest otherwise.

“We do a lot of education around regulation and policy. We have attorneys who work in the cannabis industry that come and speak,” said Nancy Birnbaum, executive director of WCBD. “With some help I’d like to see us do bigger events, take advantage of online (technology) and do webinars.”

According to Hattan, WCBD is a networking and social group for those who are in the industry or thinking about joining the industry.

In the past, their talks and informa-

tional sessions have centered around health, legislature and business cultivation.

While the events have a strong female presence, Birnbaum noted that men make up 30 to 40 percent of their regular informational session attendees.

For female entrepreneurs in the business, WEmpowered provides a resource for women to network and stay educated about issues prevalent to their business. “We really work together as peers to raise each other up and be successful, to make sure our businesses thrive in this community,” noted Gore. “This community specifically for women has been really instrumental in propelling our success.”

According to Stacy Bryant, founder of People Need People, a full-service cannabis staffing company that has branches throughout Sonoma, Mendocino and Humboldt counties, the cannabis industry has a “significant amount of women operating in a leadership role.”

At People Need People, the majority of the staff is female. “We really have a strong female presence,” said Bryant. “It’s a nurturing environment that’s inviting.”

When asked about the role that women play in the industry, Bryant, Gore and Hattan all noted that the strong presence of women has created a more nurturing and collaborative environment.

“Without being too stereotypical,” said Hattan. “The guys were in the

See Women Page 4

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Page 2 • Cannabis • August 16, 2018

Post-prohibition: Adult-use cannabis in Sonoma County Where can I get high now?

By E.I. Hillin Sonoma West Publishers Staff On Jan. 1 something changed in the air in Sonoma County. While some communities welcomed the first official day of adult-use cannabis legalization, not everyone was “waking and baking” that morning.

In 2016 voters approved the legalization of recreational marijuana by means of Proposition 64, the Adult Use of Marijuana Act (AUMA). In the aftershock, government leaders have spent hours upon hours in council chambers and district supervisor meetings reviewing ordinances, listening to community members and business owners and trying to figure out how to regulate cannabis in a way that is fair for everyone.

That’s a tall order for a potentially multi-billion dollar industry that’s more-or-less been hiding in the bushes for the last century.

Eight months after the end of prohibition, cities and towns in Sonoma County are still acting under the state’s emergency cannabis ordinance and will do so until the end of the year.

The AUMA legalized the commercial sale, distribution and production of cannabis for adult use at state-licensed facilities under the Medical and Adult Use of Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA).

However, under state law, local city and county governments can restrict or ban cannabis businesses in their jurisdictions. As for cannabis use, the AUMA allows adults 21 and over to possess, privately use and give away up to one ounce of cannabis, and to cultivate six plants for personal use at their residence.

In the county, each city has its own unique attitude on the cannabis issue. The following is an analysis of current cannabis rules and regulations in Sebastopol, Windsor, Cloverdale and Healdsburg.

Sebastopol It’s no surprise that west county’s lighthouse to hippie culture, Sebastopol, was one of the first cities in the county to welcome cannabis businesses. Sebastopol City Manager Larry McLaughlin said as far as he was aware, Sebastopolians support the legalization of adult-use cannabis.

“I have not received any negative comments or concerns from any residents,” he said.

In fact the city encourages new types of cannabis-related business enterprises. The city currently has two dispensaries, Solful and SPARC Peace in Medicine, approved for medical and adult use; and two type 6 (for extraction using a mechanical method or non-volatile solvent) cannabis manufacturing facilities.

In order to stay proactive the city adopted a comprehensive cannabis ordinance in March, which replaced the urgency cannabis ordinance adopted in December, 2017.

McLaughlin said the city allows a variety of cannabis businesses, such as dispensary retailer (medical and/or adult use), cannabis retailer delivery (office only), cultivation, cultivation nursery, microbusiness, testing and laboratories, manufacturing (processing, packaging and labeling), distribution and warehousing.

“There are no substantive changes proposed to the cannabis ordinance at the moment, but there has been some basic initial discussion regarding the possibility of tasting rooms,” McLaughlin said.

Cannabis delivery is allowed into the city and each residence is allowed up to six plants, indoor or outdoor.

Windsor The Town of Windsor’s response to the passage of Prop. 64 has been rather strong, but not surprising.

Police Chief Carlos Basurto said so far there has not been any significant changes in Windsor involving marijuana.

“Mostly, because Windsor passed an ordinance banning all retail sales of marijuana, marijuana products and marijuana accessories, nor do we allow outdoor cultivation,” he said.

That pretty much sums up the attitude of a majority of the town’s leadership when it comes to adultuse cannabis. Among the few changes as a result of the legalization of recreational cannabis, is the recent cannabis training Basurto and his sergeants completed.

Basurto said the training was to become more familiar with the new cannabis laws, but mostly to better assist the town with permitting and regulating of legal indoor grows that might occur within the town.

Residents of the town have the

Photo E.I. Hillin

CANNABIS BLOOMS — Cities and towns in Sonoma County continue to balance the legalization of adult-use cannabis with respect to the citizens in their communities and compliance with state and county regulation.

option to grow up to six plants per residence, but it has to be indoors only. There is another option for those who don’t feel like driving out of town to get their cannabis — they can call it in.

Basurto said distribution facilities are not allowed; however, deliveries can be made by licensed and permitted individuals.

Cloverdale Interest in cannabis is only increasing in the county’s most northern city. “Cannabis is here,” said Cloverdale City Manager David Kelley. “We want to integrate it into our community in a way that is safe and acceptable.”

In September 2017, the city council approved a cannabis ordinance allowing permission for adult-use cannabis businesses to open doors in the city, including manufacturing, testing, distribution, delivery (nonstorefront) and microbusinesses but within certain zones only.

The city has reviewed five cannabis business applications to date. In March one dispensary was approved, Red Door Remedies. One more spot is available for a dispensary, but the controversial issue has forced the council to bring its cannabis ordinance back for review.

Kelley said public policy in regards to cannabis is comparable to the “Goldilocks” concept of trying to find the perfect fit. “Cannabis is a whole new arena,” he said. “It’s been challenging to address all the issues.”

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Another hot topic in Cloverdale is whether the city will allow a cannabis event at the historic Citrus Fairgrounds. Kelley said the decision will be determined as the council updates the cannabis ordinance.

Residents are allowed to grow six plants, indoors only, and are allowed to call in delivery for their cannabis.

Healdsburg Nothing much has changed in the last eight months in the touristfriendly boutique town of Healdsburg. City Manager David Mickaelian said the city has taken a back seat stance on the issue. “The city took the approach of ‘wait and see’ and we are still that mode,” he said.

Currently, Healdsburg prohibits dispensaries or any other cannabis businesses. In mid-2017 the city updated its marijuana ordinance with tight restrictions, including that the cultivation of marijuana is not allowed within 300 feet of a hospital, church, school, park or playground, child care center, recreation center or youth center.

It also prohibits smoking or ingesting marijuana in any public place or within 1,000 feet of a school or any location where tobacco is prohibited.

Mickaelian said during the city’s annual goal setting meeting in March, cannabis was not a significant issue. “That was not one of the things on the list,” he said.

In a recent interview, Healdsburg Mayor Brigette Mansell said the

council has spoken with Sebastopol and Cloverdale government officials about their methods. Mansell said the main reason the city continues the ban on cannabis businesses is that not enough community members have come forward to argue the decision.

As of now, adult residents can grow up to six plants per residence, indoors only, and call in for a delivery.

Driving and cannabis In each jurisdiction, the warning from law enforcement is the same, don’t toke (or eat) and drive. The penalties for driving under the influence of marijuana are exactly the same as for DUI of alcoholic beverages. The charge is the same, Driving Under the Influence, 23152(a) of the California Vehicle Code, whether it is alcoholic beverages or drugs. Under the new state law, adults are allowed to transport up to one ounce of cannabis and eight grams of concentrated cannabis.

Delivery options For residents who live in one of the areas more restrictive on cannabis, there are a plethora of cannabis delivery businesses in Sonoma County; however, most are near Santa Rosa along Highway 101.

Delivery can be expensive, and many require buyers to provide a state-issued medical cannabis card.

Most delivery services have a standard minimum of around $50.

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August 16, 2018 • Cannabis • Page 3

Cannabis Country Sebastopol: a bright, shining light

n Sonoma County and all across California, cannabis companies that don’t have permits from Jonah Raskin Sacramento have received cease and desist orders over the past six months.

Those companies have had a choice: fill out the forms, submit them to the authorities and pay the fees, or face loss of property and fines.

According to Lori Ajax, the chief at the Bureau of Cannabis Control (BCC), 22 percent of the California cannabis companies that received cease and desist orders have complied with demands and registered for licenses.

That leaves 78 percent of companies without them.

Some have been raided, their operations shut down. More raids are scheduled.

In June, Governor Brown beefed up the enforcement teams with additional funding.

Why the crackdown? The State of California wants the tax revenue. As long as cannabis operators don’t have licenses and continue to operate on the black market, Sacramento and local governments are out a big chunk of change.

It’s the beginning of the end for thousands of growers, and the real beginning of the new, legal cannabis industry.

Four local business partners who have all the necessary permits are ready to open a manufacturing center in Sebastopol, which is the most cannabis-friendly city in Sonoma County, along with Santa Rosa.

The four partners are Craig Litwin, Mitcho Thompson, Johnny Nolen and Angie Harrison, who is the CEO at the 421 group, which calls itself a “full service cannabis consultancy.” Indeed, 421 provides help to clients already in the cannabis business or about to start in the business.

Litwin served on the Sebastopol City Council for eight years, and as the mayor for two terms, from 2000 to 2008.

Along with Linda Kelley, he wrote the dispensary ordinance for Sebastopol.

Litwin and his partners in the legal cannabis industry have survived while others in the illegal industry have fallen by the wayside, or not yet succeeded, for half a dozen reasons. They’ve been patient and persistent, they know how to navigate tangled rules and regulations and they know how to talk to people who sit behind desks, make up rules and then enforce them.

Litwin, Thompson, Nolen and Harrison also get along with one another. Finally, they’re at the right place and at the right time.

“We live in a very regulated state,” Litwin said. “It requires a very strong stomach to get involved and then stick with it.”

Their new company, which is called Phytomagic, will make concentrates, tinctures and topicals, some of them with herbs like lavender that will be locally grown.

Phytomagic will work with small, local growers who adhere to organic and biodynamic farming practices.

Thompson has a long history as an herbalist. He has served as the vice president of the Sonoma County Herb Association and he was one of the founders of Peace in Medicine, the Sebastopol dispensary.

“Our company will be able to help a lot of people who have so far been excluded from the new legal market,” Thompson said.

Phytomagic will hire locals to create a full line of cannabis products. The company won’t grow marijuana.

Sebastopol is ideally situated for the manufacture of tinctures and topicals; the city doesn’t tax the manufacturing of cannabis, plus there are nearby organic pot farms and a small army of growers and herbalists like Thompson who have years of experience behind them.

In California, Sebastopol is an exception — 70 percent of the state has no dispensaries and no access to safe cannabis products.

“I think it will take another decade to open other jurisdictions to retail opportunities,” Litwin said. “Meanwhile we have a great opportunity to forge ahead in Sebastopol.”

I

Jonah Raskin, a professor emeritus at Sonoma State University, is the author of Marijuanaland, Dispatches from an American War, published in French as well as English, and shares story credit for the feature length pot film Homegrown.

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Cannabis 2018 A special supplement to the August 16, 2018 edition of:

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What has Colorado learned?

The benefits of hindsight In one Colorado town, cannabis revenue helps pays for the police force

By Laura Hagar Rush Sonoma West Publishers Staff California legalized recreational cannabis in January of this year, and thus far local government officials have had eight rather confusing months, trying to get ahead of problems, balance competing interests and figure out how this whole thing is going to work.

They’re not the first to go down this road. Colorado legalized recreational cannabis in 2012. Rural counties and small towns there have had more than five years of experience dealing with the panoply of challenges and opportunities that legal cannabis produces.

Breckenridge: A new kind of winter wonderland Shannon B. Haynes is the assistant town manager of Breckenridge, a ski resort town 90 miles west of Denver with a population of almost 5,000. Breckenridge has grant-

all, so they’d just leave them in their hotel rooms when they left, and then the housekeeping staff — it’s kind of an unwritten rule around here that housekeeping can consume things they find in the rooms after guests have left — well, the housekeepers would think, ‘Oooh, a candy bar!’ or ‘Oooh, a brownie!’ They didn’t realize what it was — so again, you had some overconsumption issues, and people not being able to finish their shifts.”

“That was something we jumped on right away — in part because we were really worried about what would happen if someone took something home for their kids.

(Happily we never heard about that happening.)”

Haynes says that one of the smartest things that the town of Breckenridge did was to take a portion of the tax windfall from marijuana sales and spend it on a police officer who deals solely with cannabis issues. That officer investigates complaints about

BReCkeNRIDge, COLORADO ed “14 or 15 licenses” for cannabis businesses in town, Haynes said.

Most of these permits are for retail establishments, but they also have some growers and one producer of CBD oil. (Each type of business requires a separate ShANNON license.)

In Breckenridge, most of the retail operations are small growers as well, though this seems to be changing as people identify their strengths and choose to focus on one form of the business or another.

Haynes served as the town’s chief of police before moving into the town manager’s office, so she’s in a unique position to explain how legalization played out in her town.

Her advice? Expect the unexpected. “We had all these ideas about what was going to happen when marijuana was legalized,” she said. “But almost none of those things happened. Truthfully, we expected it to be a much bigger issue than it was. It’s not that there are no problems; they’re just not the problems we expected.”

“What we anticipated was that we’d have a lot of problems with public consumption, so we did a lot of education up front about how much you could possess and where you could use it. Ultimately, though, that turned out not to be a problem. We didn’t have open consumption issues.”

Instead the town had issues around edibles and edible serving sizes. “The problem was that serving sizes were not what you’d expect. Like they’d sell a regular-sized brownie that, in terms of THC, was actually 10 serving sizes. You weren’t supposed to eat the whole thing — you were just supposed to take one bite, but who takes one bite of a brownie? People just weren’t used to that, so they’d eat the whole thing and then they’d feel sick because they’d overconsumed.”

“So we did a lot of work with educating consumers and working with the producers and manufacturers to make more realistic serving sizes and better packaging.”

As a resort town that draws tourists from Colorado and other states, Breckenridge also ran into a peculiar problem with hotels.

“People from places where marijuana was still illegal would buy edibles here and then wouldn’t consume them

cannabis, enforces the town’s marijuana laws and runs their cannabis-related education campaigns.

In the case of the housekeeper issue, the town’s cannabis officer created an educaB. hAyNeS tion campaign in Spanish, since most of the housekeepers there are Spanish speakers. “We worked with the local resorts and hotels and got their housekeeping staff together and showed them photos of different packaging to watch out for and what to look for — like this particular leaf or design on the packaging,” Haynes said.

As the town’s former police chief, Haynes says she didn’t see an increase in crime with legalization. “We’ve had very little crime. We’ve had a couple of shops broken into, but the perpetrators were only interested in plants, cash and product. There’s been no violence.”

Nor has she seen any home invasion robberies linked to cannabis.

The biggest cause of complaints around town is the odor, which seems to be a chronic, low-level problem.

“We do have issues with odor, particularly in the area to the north of the center of town where all the cannabis businesses are. (We had a debate in town about whether to allow them on Main Street, and the town decided not to do that, so there’s a pretty small area where they’re allowed to operate.)”

“The issue is when the plants are budding — or when the business hasn’t changed their filters. So we warn them, and they change the filters and that fixes it for awhile, then it starts all over again.”

Haynes said the challenges of legal cannabis have changed over the years. Right after legalization, for example, the town was swamped with college kids wanting to get in on the action.

“That first January we ended up having thousands of college kids descend on the town, then later that summer a bunch of transients arrived, but they left when the summer ended and never came back because Breckenridge isn’t very desirable for the homeless — it’s too cold.”

Years on, as the initial excitement of legal cannabis has died down, the town has shifted to long-term programs focused on education about

cannabis, especially for youth.

It is illegal for any one under 21 to use cannabis in Colorado.

“We are doing a lot of work locally with youth, and we’re seeing a changing dynamic — there’s always been a percentage of teenagers who smoked pot, but now that it’s legal, kids see it as mainstream.”

“Interestingly, we’ve also seen an increase in tobacco use, what with vaping and ecigarettes, and there’s this perception that these things (vaping and cannabis) aren’t harmful. We’re having to work a lot harder on the youth side of things. We don’t use scare tactics — we just try to give real information, like about cannabis’ impact on brain development and that impact on your life if you get caught, in terms of college and involvement in high school sports or extracurriculars.”

While the town’s police no longer bust adults for using, growing, or selling marijuana, they do spend a bit of time busting minors for using fake IDs while attempting to buy marijuana.

“It’s different than trying to use a fake ID in a bar, which kids have tried to do since forever,” Haynes said. “Most bartenders, if they don’t think you’re 21, will just keep your fake ID, and that’s that. But marijuana dispensaries are legally required to have security video cameras. So our compliance person can find kids using social media and then issue a summons. We’ve had some very shocked under21 age kids — and some very shocked parents whose kids have received summonses. But we work with them. It’s been an education for them and for us and a bit of work for the police department.”

Although cannabis has been legal for almost seven years in Colorado, Haynes says there are still people working in the black market, as both growers and sellers.

“We have heard that the black market is still running pretty strong,” Haynes said.

“The taxes on legal marijuana are fairly high: state and local combined are 28 percent around here. That’s why there’s still a black market — it’s cheaper to buy it illegally, and if you sell illegally, you don’t have to pay taxes. But it’s not any worse than what it was before legalization. And there is still plenty of opportunity for profit on the legal side, and it’s bringing in a significant amount of revenue for the state.”

De Beque: Back from the brink thanks to cannabis One hundred and fifty one miles west of Breckenridge in

California, they can choose whether or not to allow cannabis businesses inside their city limits or in unincorporated county areas.

De Beque basically operates as the dispensary for a large swath of Mesa County (population 148,513) that includes the town of Grand Junction (population 61,881), where cannabis businesses are not allowed.

“What we did here, was that we applied a special sales tax of 5 percent on every cannabis sale,” said Stewart, whose entire salary is paid by cannabis revenue. “We looked at it as a way to supplement our annual budget, which was hemorrhaging, and it has worked out really good for us.”

De Beque once got most of the money it needed to run the town from the oil and gas industry. “We got $260,000 in 2006, but by last year, that had dropped to $14,000. But revenue from cannabis has completely replaced that, and more. We get around $500,000 a year from cannabis taxes.”

The town has agreed to license four dispensaries, four grow operations and four manufacturing facilities, should others wish to apply.

Cannabis revenue accounts for 50 percent of the city budget. “We rebuilt our truck route through town, which was falling apart. We replaced a couple blocks of sidewalk, curb and gutter around the school. Plus, it funds a department of four people which includes a school resource officer, two police officers and me,” Stewart said.

Stewart says he has seen no downsides to legalization.

“There was a whole lot of misinformation that split the community quite severely during the initial fight over legalization here. We were warned to expect invasions of hippies and homeless people, all stoned and walking around like zombies, and stoned kids.

None of that occurred. I can honestly say I don’t think we’ve had one arrest having to do with marijuana in two and a half years. And we’ve seen no increase of marijuana use in our school.”

Stewart also says legalization has not led to more drug use of other kinds. “We have the same issues with hard drugs that we’ve always had — mostly crack cocaine and meth — which comes in on the interstate. The difference is now we have the law enforcement personnel to deal with it, because about half our marijuana revenue goes to law enforcement.”

Despite the funds flowing into city coffers, Stewart admits that the town’s newfound prosperity feels precarious. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ announcement in

De Beque, COLORADO the tiny town of De January that he Beque, (population planned to crack 500), City Manager down on marijuaLance Stewart na nationwide sent knows all about chills throughout the benefits of Colorado. cannabis for small And now De town government.

Beque faces comDe Beque (propetition from nounced “de-beck) another small has four dispentown, Palisade, saries, two manuwhich is located facturing operacloser to Grand LANCe StewARt tions for CBD oil Junction. and one large grow “We’ve seen a operation, which dip in revenues sounds like a lot for a town of since the dispensary opened in that size. But all of them do a Palisade last November.” brisk business.

Still, he would not go back.

Stewart says that De Beque, “It was a good move on the which is located on interstate part of the board of trustees, 70, capitalizes on the large and it was somewhat a move of number of towns and counties desperation. We’d tried legalizin Colorado that have banned ing gambling, but that didn’t marijuana businesses of any fly. Then, once it became legal, kind. we looked at marijuana and Local governments can’t legalized that and now we’re ban the personal use of maristarting to see the benefit of juana — that’s allowed by that decision, so hopefully it’ll Colorado state law — but, like continue into the future.”

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Page 4 • Cannabis • August 16, 2018

GROWERS: Continued from Page 1 with the hopes of a promise that we will be licensed,” Trantham said.

The farmers currently use less than an acre to cultivate cannabis.

In the last year, the county has reported receiving more than 200 cannabis applications. Trantham said he understands the overload, but also wants the due processe owed to him and his partners.

“We want to be treated fairly,” he said.

For Petaluma Hill Farms co-owner David Drips, it’s all worth the risk. “We grow it because we believe in it,” he said.

In addition to around 2,000 cannabis plants, Drips grows potatoes, tomatoes, cauliflower, watermelons and other produce. He said he sold his business to be a full-time farmer and invested approximately $900,000 to become a compliant cannabis cultivator.

Drips faith in cannabis stems from his own medical issues as an epileptic patient as well as his father’s battle with cancer. “I believe in the power of the plant,” Drips said.

While the workers on Petaluma Hills Farm get paid, Drips and his business partner are still waiting for their payout. “They’ve got us trapped in conception,” he said.

The opposition

Expense and regulation changes aren’t the only challenges the cannabis industry is facing.

Another big deterrent for legal cannabis farmers is the backlash from neighbors who cite water scarcity, traffic and the potential for crime, among other intrusions into remote, rural neighborhoods.

Both Sonoma Reserve and Petaluma Hill Farms have been met with opposition as they work to maintain compliancy. de Mello said Sonoma Reserve has felt a strong hostility from neighborhood groups like Save Our Sonoma Neighborhood and those associated with the Palmer Creek and Mill

WOMEN: Another big deterrent for legal cannabis farmers is the backlash from neighbors who cite water scarcity, traffic and the potential for crime, among other intrusions into remote, rural neighborhoods.

Creek watersheds. de Mello said Sonoma Reserve has received 10 code enforcement visits after being falsely accused.

“The enemy has been the opposition,” de Mello said.

The neighborhood groups opposing cannabis cultivation and businesses are very clear that they don’t want a commercial scale business next door to them. They were unsuccessful in asking the county to create “exclusion zones” where no cannabis can be grown.

Tim Ricard, Sonoma County Cannabis Program Manager, said the county has made the change to a very heavily regulated industry quickly.

“I think anytime there are new regulations or approved land use permits we need to make sure all viewpoints are considered,” he said.

“There’s a lot of passion on both sides of the issue.”

County regulations

Sonoma County created a cannabis program to act as the single-point contact for the public and departments involved in the regulation of cannabis. Ricard admits it’s a complicated business.

The county cannabis program works through several departments.

Permit Sonoma handles land use, the Department of Agriculture Weight and Measures permits for pesticide control, the tax department handles taxation of cannabis businesses, the sheriff’s department handles code enforcement and the health department regulates dispensaries and edible manufacturers.

The county uses different processes for permits.

Ricard said based on the size of the cannabis operations, a small indoor/outdoor zoning permit has

Continued from Page 1 field, the guys were farming and coming out of an era of prohibition and being careful ... so the wives, the girlfriends, the partners have been the ones who have been like ‘I’m going to go to the city council meeting, I’m going to go to the board of supervisors meeting,’ so that need has arisen for us to be able to collaborate and share information and try to get through this together.”

While the collaborative environment has provided a platform for education and networking between business owners and consumers alike, there are still problems facing business owners in the industry.

According to Gore, one hiccup that female entrepreneurs may face is getting funding. “We’re trying to fundraise as female entrepreneurs … when you look at who’s getting funded in the cannabis space, we’re an

less public review, is substantially cheaper at $2,500, and generally takes three months to permit.

A larger conditional use permit process can be up to $16,000 and take up to a year to process. The tax rate is based on square footage of the proposed operation.

At press time, Ricard said the county had approved a total of 25 cannabis licenses, including 18 cultivators, five dispensaries, one distributor and one manufacturer.

For county cultivators like Sonoma Reserve and Petaluma Hills Farm they can only wait for government officials to clarify regulations and find the best fit for cannabis in Sonoma County.

Latest developments

anomaly right now and I hope we can propel that change.”

Other challenges that business owners who are involved in the creation of cannabis products face include stigma and packaging regulation, amongst other things. “Whether it’s the difficulty to bank or acceptance on social media — there’s a very heavy stigma,” said Gore. “It’s federally illegal, so there’s a lot of challenges that come with that.”

According to Bryant, whose business focuses more on the relationships between the people who are working with the plants, the biggest challenge involves “managing the expectations of the employees as well as the client to work toward a more conventional work environment.”

“Right now the industry is very much in an infantile state,” noted Bryant. “It’s messy, unknown, exciting … it’s been great getting to participate.”

State grants cannabis event permit

The Aug. 7 meeting of the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors brought significant changes yet again for small farmers in the unincorporated parts of the county.

In an effort to appease both sides of the cannabis issue, the board approved limiting most cultivation sites to properties 10 acres or larger, but allowing permitted cultivators or those with pending permits to be grandfathered in.

Ultimately, the update excludes cultivation for future small-scale cannabis farmers.

For farmers like Drips, who fall under the category of the grandfather clause, a sigh of relief came when the board agreed to extend the use of permits from one year to two and five years for zoning and use permits. This type of stability has been absent from the industry since the legalization on Jan. 1.

“I think it went well, overall,” Drips said. The updates will be made official by vote of the board on Aug. 28.

Local Sesh received local jurisdiction from Santa Rosa to host a two-day cannabis festival at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds on Aug. 18–19. The local approval was the final step needed to receive the green light from the California Bureau of Cannabis control to allow cannabis sales and consumption to take place at the festival.

The state-sanctioned cannabis event will feature live performances, an educational keynote speaker series and exhibitors from the California cannabis industry.

“We’re thrilled to be expanding the Local Sesh family into northern California and could not imagine a more perfect place to do so,” said Devin Weller, founder and CEO of Local Sesh. “Santa Rosa is a pioneer in the state’s new industry setting the tone for cities to follow, and we’re excited to be a part of it with them.”

Local Sesh received the very first annual cannabis license issued

by the state on May 1. The upcoming two-day festival will be the third licensed cannabis event in California history.

“We spent the last eight months working tirelessly with government organizations, venues, and cities to secure all the necessary permits to have a legal event. Our due diligence has finally paid off with Local Sesh Sonoma County.” said Weller.

Local Sesh Sonoma County is partnering with Rebuild Wine Country, a charitable effort managed by volunteer wine industry professionals from both Napa and Sonoma counties. The team has raised $1 million dollars thus far, with a goal of raising $5 million for the Sonoma Wildfire Cottage Initiative and additional rebuild efforts by Habitat for Humanity’s other North Bay affiliates. Local Sesh will donate a portion of ticket sales from the festival to the cause.

— submitted by Devin Weller

ENVIRONMENT: to those things.”

“In some parks we have Bert Whitaker, the director inholdings within some of the parks, which are islands of of Sonoma County Regional private property and often Parks, said the parks departthere is some cultivation, ment has dealt with illegal legal or illegal, on there,” Yee grows in parks for 20 years added. but calls them “infrequent.”

Whitaker says that when “We’ve learned as time has illegal grows are found, the gone by to be more assertive park service will either clean with neighboring property — being out there, being present, up the area themselves with volunteers, or bring in law so that things aren’t happenenforcement and hazmat ing that we aren’t aware of,” crews as Whitaker needed. While said, adding these that grows “We are taking a cleanups can are more commonly cautious, conservative have an effect on budgeting, found in open approach to protect the damage to space disan ecosystem tricts not our parklands and the is harder to open to the quantify. public. neighborhoods Sometimes a Adeline cleanup just Yee from adjacent to them.” means pulling California State Parks Bert Whitaker up tarps and piping, other reports simitimes there is lar experisignificant damage to soils, ences with Sonoma County watersheds and plant and aniproperties. “It hasn’t been mal life. that huge of a problem,” she Whitaker says since legalsaid. ization, he has noticed greater “Most of the efforts for concern from park visitors cleanup are for what we call and neighbors, but not addi‘environmental vandalism.’

When they do have illegal cul- tional or increased damage to parklands. “It seems like, tivation, we see increased with legalization more neightraffic, water tanks being put bors and adjacent property up or they drop a hose in a owners are concerned about river or creek, and a lot of times we have cleanup related impacts,” he said.

Continued from Page 1

rodenticide poisoning of rare carnivores and high carbon emissions from greenhouses.”

However, the duo cautioned, “While these studies show negative impacts of cannabis production, they are all based on limited, non-random sampling in areas where cannabis production is known to be high. Thus, they cannot be used to infer impacts at broader scales.”

In October of 2017, Bustic and Brenner, along with Ian J. Wang, published a second study, “Cannabis, an emerging agricultural crop, leads to deforestation and fragmentation,” which compared the effects of cannabis cultivation to the effects of the timber industry.

“We found that although timber has greater landscape impacts overall, cannabis causes far greater changes in key metrics on a per-unit-area basis,” said Bustic in a statement.

On a per-unit-area basis, the cannabis grows resulted in 1.5 times more forest loss and 2.5 times greater fragmentation of the landscape, breaking up large, contiguous forest into smaller patches and reducing wildlife habitat.

“The results show how important it is to consider environmental impacts at different scales,” said Brenner, an associate professor in the

“There is concern about the ecology of the area. It’s certainly resonating loud and clear in communities around our parks that park visitors want to have a quality experience enjoying our outdoor spaces, and they have concerns about adjacent legal grows due to aromas, security and view sheds,” Whitaker said.

“People are curious, and we are taking this very seriously. We are taking a cautious, conservative approach to protect our parklands and the neighborhoods adjacent to them.”

What little research that was done into the environmental impacts of cannabis cultivation, albeit illegal grows versus legal ones, has had alarming findings. The Humboldt County-based 2016 peer-reviewed study, “Cannabis agriculture and the environment: a systematic, spatially-explicit survey and potential impacts” by Van Bustic and Jacob C. Brenner found that: “Popular media speculation about environmental impacts of cannabis agriculture in this region, especially impacts on water, is widespread, but empirical research is limited. The small body of scientific research points to profound negative consequences, including decreased stream flows,

Department of Environmental ronmental impacts,” reads the Studies and Sciences at Ithaca abstract from the study.

College, in a statement.

“Cannabis requires high temperatures, strong light, “For example, current California law caps the size of highly fertile soil and large outdoor cannabis production volumes of water — around to one acre per parcel, to protwice that of wine grapes. A hibit the develstudy of illegal opment of outdoor grow “Research is industrialoperations in scale cannabis northern indicating an operations outCalifornia doors. But, found that unintended research is rates of water consequence of this extraction indicating an unintended streams (state) law may be from consequence of threatened this law may aquatic ecosyssmall dispersed be small distems and that cannabis grows that water effluent persed cannabis contained high edge out wildlife grows that levels of edge out growth nutriand create forest wildlife (and ents, as well as create forest pesticides, herfragmentation.” fragmentabicides and Jacob C. Brenner fungicides, furtion).”

The study ther damaging points out that while the long- aquatic wildlife.” term effects of cannabis cultiBut, county regulations on grows near parks and on their vation on the environment are unknown, the researchers uses of and impacts on natuconcluded that land manageral resources like water are ment and agricultural policy strict and come with severe informed by further research penalties. may reduce effects, just as The question yet to be they have with other agriculdetermined is what are the tural products. long-term impacts of legal “The few studies that have cannabis agriculture, both as investigated specific practices a standalone product and as associated with marijuana compared to other agriculturcultivation have identified al products, such as grapes? potentially significant enviMore research is needed.

| H16 |

Har vest edition

A special publicati

on of The Heal

October 30, 2014

Elevating the app

dsburg Tribune,

At Tilte d Reve Shed Cider

The Cloverdale

Multi-Year Winner: “BEST SPECIAL SECTION”

ille, The Windsor

works

le

Times and Sono

ma West Times

& News

November 2, 2017

California News Publishers Association We’ve been covering lots of local Harvests for many years, through all the challenges and rewards, the changing crops, the hard work, the fires, the weather and rains.

A special

publication

burg Tribun

e, The Cloverd

ale Reveill

By Rollie Atkinson Staff Writer

Sonoma winegrap County’s 2017 e harvest will be forever known story that for a much bigger had with working nothing to do in the vineyards, crushing juice or making grapes into And, we all wine. know that ry is the historic stowildfires that burned the county’s over 10 percent of and destroye 1 million acres 5,000 homes. d more than Most call Tubbs Fire, it but it was the bigger than much a single fire.

Before the struck, with Oct. 9 fires percent of as much as 90 the safely in tanksfruit already local growers and barrels, ing on anotherwere remarkvery promising crop.

The widely above Sonoma spread fires Valley along the Mayacam and a ridges abruptly put harvest on the final days of hold while yard access vinemany placeswas cut off in and all eyes available and volunteers watched the threaten ing flames.

In the aftermat h, about a dozen winery propertie tained fire destruction s susdamage and or some vineyard were scorched s .

Final pickings of cabernet sauvignon and other ripening varietals latedid not h p n in om place n

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WATCH FOR OUR 2018 REPORT Publishes October 25, 2018

LOCALLY GROW N, LOCALLY CRAF TED tasting room on Bell Photos by Sarah Bradbu Road in Windsor where— Sebastopol-based Tilted Shed Ciderw ry apples sourced from husband and wife orks recently open their own orchards team Scott Heath its first with complexity and and and depth. Pictured clockw other locations in Sonoma and Mend Ellen Cavalli transform apples, the apples ocino counties into ise from top left is are ciders mented and the end washed and then moved to the pressi the apple-to-cider process: Cavalli sorting ng machine that Heath result is a crisp cider. is running. The juice is fer-

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grape crop is predicted weigh in between to 210,000 to 225,000 tons. heavy as last That’s not as better than year, but it’s the recent drought-impacted harvests 2011-2015. of The source of heat that the most impact had on the winegrap e crop wasn’t 2017 the wildfires from record heat ; it was from a Labor Day spell over the weekend.

After a long growing seasonand temperate that started in mid-Mar ch, the 110 heat streak degree September in early sent some into shock vines and ars to prematu boosted sugre ripeness Growers scramble . hurried harvestin d and g crews vineyards.

Others sprayedinto water on their serve cluster vines to prewere left to juices and most wait to see Mother Nature what might toss them next. at What came next was a days of unseason few able rain showers that confused the vines both and the farmers.

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“I have to tell my hardest you, this was harvest ever.”

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Vintage 2013 — Can you spell phenom enal? d dr y

Vintage 2014

Vintage 2015

: Early, quick an

: Dusty and diffi

cult

“We defin itely got away with one this year.

If we have a hot summer next year (with adequate out rains ), there will lot of hardsbe a hip.”

INSIDE

“It’s hard to is usual or say what average anymore, except to say this harve st great one, is another as usual .”

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August 16, 2018 • Cannabis • Page 5

Cannabis products for pets: a market with legs it might help, but vets can’t talk about it

By Frank Robertson Sonoma West Publishers Staff California law banning veterinarians from talking to pet owners about using medical marijuana for their dogs and cats stands out, even in the strange and loopy world of American drug laws.

“It’s ridiculous,” said Dr. John Fitzpatrick, a Guerneville veterinarian. “It doesn’t make any sense.”

Doctors, nurses and even dentists can talk to patients about medical marijuana, but vets can’t, said Fitzpatrick, who operates the Russian River Veterinary Clinic.

“We’re the only health professionals who can’t talk about it,” said Fitzpatrick. “It’s very frustrating.”

His clients are increasingly asking about treating their pets’ ailments with medical marijuana, but under current state law governing vets, “I can’t even discuss it,” said Fitzpatrick.

The gag order on vets may change soon, under a state assembly bill (AB-2215) now moving through the legislature. Proposed by Assemblymember Ash Kalra of San Jose and sponsored by the California Veterinary Medical Association, the bill would allow vets to discuss medical marijuana as an option for pets, although it stops short of allowing

A

veterinarians to prescribe cannabis products.

As things stand, California veterinarians can be subject to criminal prosecution and loss of license “if they are incorporating cannabis into their practices,” said Kalra (D-San Jose) in a summary of the need for his proposed legislation issued last month by a state senate committee.

“Though this bill would not allow a veterinarian to recommend cannabis to a client, it would allow them to discuss cases in which an animal may have ingested cannabis unintentionally or if it may be an option for medical use which the client is considering,” said a senate Legislative Counsel’s Digest comments last month.

California’s recent Medicinal and Adult-Use Cannabis Regulation and Safety Act (MAUCRSA) only addresses medical marijuana use for humans.

The new law would protect pet owners from prosecution for giving their pets medical marijuana and shield veterinarians from having their licenses taken away by the state Veterinary Medical Board (VMB) that regulates veterinarians in California.

The bill prohibits the VMB “from disciplining or denying, revoking, or suspending the license of a licensed veterinarian solely for discussing the use of cannabis on an animal for medical purposes,” said the Legislative Counsel Digest.

Photo Frank Robertson

stymied — Veterinarian John Fitzpatrick is disallowed by law in discussing

cannabis products for pets.

With vets barred from discussing medical cannabis with clients, pet owners are getting advice from the internet, friends, dispensary clerks and who knows what other sources that may not be medically sound.

“Clearly this structure is not in the best interest or health of the animal patient,” said the state senate committee report on cannabis and veterinarians last month.

Instead, veterinarians should be an available resource for informed advice on medical cannabis use in pets, “not all these other people,” said Veterinary Medical Association

Executive Director Valerie Fenstermaker in a Sacramento Bee story this year about the pending veterinary legislation. “Some veterinarians have expressed that they receive questions daily about this.”

The Bee story quoted Tim Shu, a veterinarian and medical cannabis advocate who agreed that pet owner interest in alternative medicine is a rapidly growing component of the whole medical marijuana landscape.

“The cat is out of the bag on this,” said Shu. “Clients want to be able to discuss this with their veterinarians.”

Legal cannabis options that are open for California pet owners include CBD (cannabidiol) pet products that are not classified as a dangerous drug under state and federal law. They are usually sold as overthe-counter oils or edible treats, promising relief for anxiety, inflammation, pain, seizures, cancer and general health.

Barkers, a pet supply store in Guerneville, sells medicinal pet treats such as Holistic Hound and Treatibles to customers interested in medical cannabis, often for older dogs and cats.

Barkers owner Karen Young said she’s getting lots of inquiries from pet owners who have heard about CBDs and want to try them out on older pets whose agility and energy may be slowing.

Young used one of her products, Treatibles, to help her 19-year-old cat who was listless and “down to skin and bones and sneezing like crazy,” said Young. Soon afterward her pet was lively, going outside, getting around better “and purring again.”

When Young’s older dog had several teeth extracted, “He was clearly damn uncomfortable,” said Young.

“You could just see it.” But after using Treatibles with CBD, “You could see him mellow outright away.

He was doing very well,” said Young.

“I truly believe in it now,” said Young about cannabis for pets.

“CBDs are going to be the thing of the future for animals and people.”

Puff, puff, pass it on: cannabis industry gets into philanthropy members of SCGA who, withHunter said. consultant, marketing agent out this help, may or may not ARC moved into the buildand potential investor. have been able to pay bills and ing the next day and set up The company is planning to get equipment,” said Wall. shop.

Sonoma County is no support a local nonprofit by Their efforts raised over CannaCraft also supports stranger to cannabis, and the gathering resources to build a $20,000 for fire relief. community projects yearpassing of Proposition 64, the garden for a farm-to-table proAccording to Wall, o ther busi- round. The CannaCraft staff, Adult Use of Marijuana Act gram for youth and supply (AUMA), has opened the nesses in the area also conwhich is made up of about 160 cancer patients in the area doors for approved, statetributed to the cannabis comwith discounted medical prodemployees, will clean a park licensed facilities to commermunity in materials. Bio 365, ucts. in Santa Rosa every quarter. cially sell, distribute and profor example, donated pallets of “I spent seven years in “Now that (cannabis) is duce marijuana for its recresoil to anyone who lost crop, legal, we try to reach out and insurance-based medicine,” ational consumers. whether they get out there in said Ganji. “I don’t call it According to the Sonoma were vegetable the community, healthcare anymore, because County Cannabis Program’s gardens or be visible and do I believe they’re focused on website, businesses that grow cannabis plants. really cool proinsurance. That being said, or manufacture c annabis Jennifer jects,” said I’m excited to be a member of Michaels, a memproducts pay a variety of taxHunter. “It helps the community and help as ber of SCGA, was es, based on the type of state tear down the stig- many people as I can.” one of the recipilicense their business holds. ma around ents of these The qualifications are based cannabis when Photo Chelsey Crumrine funds after losing on cultivation type (outdoor, (people) see comGenerOsity — Jennifer indoor or mixed-light cultiva- her farm in the panies like ours Michaels and Alexa Wall stand fires. tion) and supply chain operaand others in the together at a recent Sonoma “I had a 215 tor type (manufacturer, transindustry getting County Growers Alliance mixer. (medical porter, distributor, etc.) out there and Michaels is the recipient of fire ALi GAnji cannabis) collecAt press time, the county doing things.” relief funds raised by the tive,” Michaels had received 207 applications CannaCraft alliance. said. “I had about for cannabis permits, but financially sup10,000 patien ts or members in ports Dail y Acts, a sustainthere was no information available about how the taxes my collective, and I lost pretty ability nonprofit organization a re allocated throughout the much all of that. I also lost my based in Sonoma County that county. farm, and I did have the ag implements projects such as However, that does not department come out and ver- turning residential lawns into mean cannabis businesses in ify that it was a 100 percent sustainable gardens. the area haven’t already been crop loss.” “(It’s) amazing being in this contributing to the communi“Unfortunately, when space right now, being able to ty. things like this happen in any- be that leader in the cannabis The Sonoma County one’s life, the bills don’t stop,” space and really set that Growers Alliance (SCGA) is a said Michaels. “Being a example,” said Hunter. “It’s grassroots nonprofit, founded farmer in this industry and really neat seeing our commuin March 2015 with a mission putting all your money into nity thrive in that philanto ensure that all something you thropic space.” parties involved believe in is Ali Ganji, founder and in cannabis proalready tough president of G rassroots “Once these duction, from enough.”

Brands, is also dedicated to businesses are businesses to SCGA was giving back to the community. regulatory bodto give “(I have been) a successful actually able to able ies, honor all Michaels an entrepreneur since I was 19, government and operate, there’s a $8,000 check to living my dream life — cars, community stanhelp rebuild her traveling and every possesbig desire from life and business. sion I could have,” said Ganji. dards.

“Right now, She hopes to find “When I was (living) in Las the cannabis we’r e diving a potential busiVegas, I started walking the super deep into ness partner and streets and giving peanut butcommunity to policy,” said start a nursery. ter and jelly sandwiches and belong and be Alexa Wall, Dennis water to the homeless, and I board chair of Hunter, realized that’s the only thing accepted and SCGA. “There’s cofounder of that made me truly ha ppy.” been a lot of Grassroots Brands, a new philanthropic.” CannaCraft, said neighborhood that the compacompany in Sonoma County, Alexa Wall ny was able to opposition, so aims to work with young our organization help American entrepreneurs as their conis focused on making sure that Red Cross (ARC) during the tract manufacturer, brand the information that’s out fires. there is factual and not scare “We had just taken over tactics and propaganda.” about a 15,000 square foot According to Wall, the abil- space right next to us, but we ity to function as a legal busihadn’t moved in yet,” said ness will give cannabis comHunter. panies greater ability to “It was all cubicles, and we expand their efforts to the reached out to A merican Red community.

Cross to see if we could get “Once these businesses are cots and stuff for people to actually able to operate, sleep in and turn it into a livthere’s a big desire from the ing quarters for people who cannabis community to lost their homes.” belong and be accepted and What Hunter didn’t know philanthropic,” said Wall. at the time was that ARC “It’s this hump we have to get could not work out of their over. We have to get our pernorthern California office mits, get an operation and because of the fires, and ARC then we can contribute.” staff had been working out of These aspirations were put a small office in San Rafael.

Beginning January 2018 there are new California to the test after the historic Once realizing that the Sonoma County fires of Santa Rosa office space was income tax laws and California Sales, Use and Excise taxes October 2017, and SCGA empty, ARC asked turned its monthly mixer into CannaCraft i f they could use it that dramatically affect your business. Stay informed, a fire-relief fundrais er with as their headquarters. in compliance and learn more by calling us today. the help of the California “I had to tell them, ‘You Grower’s Association (CGA). know we’re a cannabis comProBusiness Advisors LLC. in conjunction with “With the generous help of pany.’ And the guy was like, our sponsors and members of ‘We don’t care what you do.

Daniel M. Kavanaugh CPA Onc. have been trusted business the industry, we were able to We need this and we need to raise funds, and we handed get out here and have our advisors for 37 years. We provide a wide array of Tax, them out about a few weeks headquarters closer to where Accounting, Finance and Regulatory Compliance services ago to a couple of different we can really help people,’”

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Page 6 • Cannabis • August 16, 2018

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