[420 Girl]

People are always afraid of change, and it looks as though the pot growers of Humboldt County in California are no different. Chill out Bro.

With marijuana legalization on the California ballot in November, many of the illegal cannabis growers in California are already singing a song of doom if the Regulate, Control and Tax Cannabis Act of 2010 (RCTCA2010) passes. Fueled by fears of a tobacco giant takeover, growers and those who work in the $500 million clandestine industry aren’t sure which way to vote, according to an article by Reuters.

Growers currently get about $3000 per pound of high quality marijuana, and “trimmers,” those who trim the plants of unwanted leaves to focus the plant’s energies on its potent buds, get $20 an hour.

But why does RCTCA2010 have to be the beginning of the end? Legalizing cannabis would not only increase demand, it would also allow growers to openly market their goods. Yet rumors are swirling around Humboldt County that tobacco industry giants are swooping in to buy land and push out the local growers.

Reuters reports that at least one big tobacco company, Reynolds American, says it has no plans to move in. "Everything else would be purely rumors and speculation," said spokesman David Howard.

"We better hope it doesn't become legal because this area is going to become a ghost town," one reader wrote to the North Coast Journal a weekly local publication in Humboldt County.

At least some in Humboldt County are not singing the legal bud blues.

Take County Supervisor Mark Lovelace, "Here we have an industry with whom our county's name has, quite frankly, become synonymous. We've lived with the downside of that name association for the past thirty years. Maybe it's time to capture some of the upside."

Change can be good. And in the case of RCTCA2010, change could be very good, especially for the illegal cannabis growers, the cannabis workers, and every other business across the board in Humboldt County. If RCTCA2010 passes, the growers of Humboldt County will be many steps ahead of fulfilling the skyrocketing demand for high quality, organically grown cannabis. If the growers of Humboldt County were smart, they would look at what the wine industry did for Sonoma and Napa Counties, and start planning on how to capitalize legitimately from their amazing cash crop. If they were smart, they would organize, and begin a massive ad campaign to promote RCTCA2010 and at the same time promote their nationally-renowned local industry. Fear of legitimacy plays right into the hands of organized crime, the DEA, and the drug cartels.

This should be the easiest vote in the world for the growers of Humboldt County. Although it is true, legalization of marijuana in California could have one negative effect on Humboldt County, and that is a massive influx of cannabis hungry tourists who want the best cannabis California has to offer. But then again, if all they are concerned about is feeding their cash cow, is that really so bad?


http://www.420magazine.com/forums/in...alization.html