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Friday, June 5, 2020
The Spokesman-Review
CULTURE & LIFESTYLE
The kids on site are all right ton State Liquor and Cannabis Board. For instance, she said, “children can’t handle the product.” In the wake of COVID-19, businesses For Shawn Stuart, owner of Fresh Kind deemed essential by Washington and Farms in Vancouver, Wash., it saved his other lockdown states quickly altered business. models to adapt to the new normal. Stuart balances his schedule between Cannabis companies benefited from running his grow operations and raising inclusion on the essential businesses list, his 9-year-old son, who has special needs and were allowed to stay open, but this and requires medication, making it esplaced family-owned businesses in a diffi- pecially difficult to find qualified childcult situation. With schools and many care. childcare centers closed, there was no“His mother also happens to be in the where for kids to go. Many operators medical field,” Stuart said. “With COVID, were going to have to choose between now she’s also an essential employee. We their families and the sources of income both have full-time, essential jobs, and that feed their families. one of us would have to stay home with Working closely with a consortium of him if he wasn’t able to go to work with producers and processors led by Crystal me.” Oliver, head of the Washington SunGrowWith the temporarily relaxed restricers Industry Association, the Washington tions, both parents can fulfill their essenState Liquor and Cannabis Board arrived tial duties, and Stuart is able to care for at a solution: they let the kids in. his son while at work. Since March, cannabis cultivators and “Now he literally comes to work with processors have been allowed to bring me every day,” Stuart said. “The biggest their children onto the premises, on a problem I have now is explaining to him temporary basis, with a set of restrictions why he’s not able to do anything inside in place. the building. He would love to help, water “It felt like a low-risk decision to allow plants, other things, but even with the children to be on the premises, but they relaxed restrictions, he’s not allowed to still have to follow some rules,” said Julie help.” Graham, spokesperson for the WashingAnother benefit, Stuart said, is that his son finally knows what he does for a living. Before, it was just a building he went into to go to work; Stuart was prohibited from sharing his passion for his craft with his son. It’s a familiar situation for many in the cannabis space. Joshua Rutherford, who cares for his 3-year-old son while his wife works as a nurse, single-handedly runs his Tier 2 farm Darling Growers in Bellingham. “I literally wouldn’t be able to grow this season if they didn’t make this rule change,” Rutherford said. But with the current easement, “I’m able to work on the farm while he’s there playing with his Legos.” For Ryan Sanderson, a third-generation farmer and owner of Golden Leaf in BenCOURTESY CRYSTAL OLIVER ton City., the relaxed restrictions have Kevin Oliver, co-founder of Washington’s allowed him to pass on a multi-generational family tradition of farming. Finest Cannabis, with his 5-year-old “When I grew up, when you’re 3, 4 daughter Antonia at the Tier 3 years old, you’re sitting on dad’s lap on a producer/processor in Deer Park.
By Tom Bowers
EVERCANNABIS CORRESPONDENT
COURTESY JOHNATHAN VANELLA
Parents like Johnathan Vanella, owner of Tier 3 producer/processor JV Ranch in Goldendale, have been granted temporary permission to bring his children – Natalie, 10; Kaitlynn, 5; and Hannah, 2 – to work with him during the COVID-19 lockdown. tractor, out there learning,” Sanderson said. “You’re running water lines when you’re 6. It’s been great that even though they can’t work, they can learn. I can show them, ‘These are bad weeds. These are good bugs. This is the soil. This is how we water.’” For Sanderson, whose kids range from 2 to 18 years old and are just now seeing what their father does for a living, this is an opportunity to scrape back lost time, and pass on the legacy. “I’m 43 years old, and my two smallest kids are 2 and 3,” he said. “I’ll be retired before they can actually participate in the farm with the current regulations. Who knows if I’ll actually last that long? How can they learn the business? That’s where it usually strikes home for me.” While this easement has been a great benefit to the families, the fact remains that as of right now, it is only temporary. The initial lifting of the restrictions was set to expire on May 1, but thanks in large part to lobbying efforts by Oliver and the
WSIA and others in the industry, the WSLCB granted a temporary-yet-indefinite extension while they continue to consider the options and the potential impact of a permanent rule change. As with everything in the WSLCB world, most actions are driven by complaints – and according to Graham, they haven’t received any complaints or been made aware of any activities that stand out as red flags against a permanent rule change. Rutherford maintains optimism up on his farm in Bellingham. His main hope is that the LCB maintains a rational approach to any potential rule changes regarding his son’s presence on the property. “From my perspective, I can’t see the problem of having him in here,” Rutherford said. “I could see them having certain rules about him not being around certain products or processes, but I’d want that to be science-driven, and not stereotypedriven.”
