Thursday Prop 19 got endorsements from Danny Glover, Melissa Etheridge and Hal Sparks joined by LAPD Deputy Chief Steve Downing, former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson and activist Sarah Lovering at a news conference to show support for Prop 19 which would legalize marijuana possession for those over 21.

Currently marijuana use for 18 and older is decriminalized, and medical marijuana use is legal statewide.

If Prop 19 passes, the Feds have said they will crack down on pot in CA, making for an interesting series of legal challenges and states’ rights arguments.

Melissa Etheridge said that she had used pot to help nausea during her breast cancer chemo and says she favors legalization and while she uses marijuana medicinally she said

I don’t want to look like a criminal to my children anymore. I want them to know this is a choice that you make as a responsible adult.

We have mid-term elections coming up Tuesday November 2, and they are pretty important, so important that POTUS Obama is appearing on the Daily Show on Wednesday October 27 to remind people to go to the polls and  vote in case they didn’t do their mail-in ballots. Please vote. It’s really sexy to know someone cares about their city, county, state and country enough to make that effort. Use your voice, mark your ballot!

Obama appeared on the Daily Show during the presidential campaign and he is pretty amusing. Daily Show host John Stewart will be Washington DC prepping for the Rally to Restore Sanity on October 30 which he’s co-hosting with fellow Comedy Central pundit Stephen Colbert at the Washington Mall. Sounds super fun!

This year’s mid-terms are important–well, golly every election is important, but anyway–because the balance in Congress could tip, with the Democratic party standing to loose seats. Which could suck if you’re a liberal/progressive. And might suck if you’re Fox News, because then what would you have to complain about?

Along with Congressional races there are four states which have marijuana on the ballot: California for Prop 19 legalization; Oregon with Measure 74 to regulate the sale and distribution of medical marijuana;  and medical marijuana initiatives in Arizona (Prop 203) and South Dakota (initiated measure 13).  Pot is a big draw in the Oregon elections, and could be a defining moment in these four states’–and our nation’s–history.

Even if you don’t live in those states, please vote. Michele Bachmann is bonkers, and as amusing as it to watch her meltdowns, like would you want her in Congress?  Christine O’Donnell gives witches a bad name, and doesn’t do much for any other group with whom she is affiliated. Heck, even Karl Rove doesn’t like her.

And governorships! Those are super important! Vote! And maybe set your betamax  to catch the Prez next Wednesday night.

Untrimmed sun bud and other Humboldt bounties

I was up in Humboldt County again last week and met with county supervisor Mark Lovelace–who led opposition to an industrial logging plan and helped establish the Sunny Brae Community Forest–to talk about Prop 19. Humboldt County has led the way in environmental protection for the redwoods, in senior care and of course in cultivation of their renown outdoor sun-bud varietals and other strains of cannabis grown with less environmental care and concern.

As well explaining to me that the very nature of pot’s illegality serves as a protection for those who large scale grow on public lands in the parks and forests because of the lack of regulation, Lovelace told me that standards need to be set for commercial marijuana production, a statewide baseline

I know what my own standards would be (outdoor-organically grown only; indoor commercial grows like those in houses across the state and even larger ones proposed in Oakland are environmentally destructive, using non-renewable resources and causing irreparable damage) and now the Humboldt Growers Association in anticipation of legalization  are trying to develop a proposal for medical marijuana cultivation that I hope would become the guideline for commercial pot.

HGA board member Joey Burger told the Times-Standard that if the law changes, the board’s proposed ordinance would be easily convertible to a larger marijuana industry.

Of course with those standards comes regulation, permits and fees. Regulations fees and permits are inevitable if Prop 19 passes, but there’s no need to rape the environment for profit. Kinda runs contra to perceived ganja/weed/pot culture values, though it seems the newer generation of growers could give a flying hang. I was told by one official that the the growing kids today have a sense of entitlement bought by underground economy’s income and an overall lack of respect for the land.  What I saw in grow-jerks was the bro-tardness inherent in today’s callow youth, part of the Federlining of America, with more dollars than sense.

Outdoor-organic sun bud, mold resistant cultivar; pesticide free.

The proposed HGA ordinance would

regulate outdoor marijuana grows with canopy areas larger than 100 square feet through a permitting process that lays out requirements for both applicants and farms. According to the proposed ordinance, applicants would have to be at least 21 years old, a resident of the county for at least two years and not have any violent crime convictions on their record.

In order to get a permit under the proposed ordinance, applicants would have to submit to site inspections, estimate water usage and a water source for the garden and provide proof of land ownership. The permits would be up for renewal every year and would allow the cultivation of not more than 40,000 square feet of canopy space

.

The sum total of garden space could not exceed 40,000 square feet (an acre is 43,560 square feet). Permit holders would also be required to provide access to their cultivation sites and water resources to inspectors at all times. While a permit for a 1/4 acre would cost about $20,000, gardens under 100 square feet would not require a permit.

I am curious if the HGA’s proposed ordinance will allow 99 square feet per person per residence, as on farms there may be several people living communally, each growing their own 215 (medical) pot.

The HGA guidelines as reported in the Times-Standard do not go into regulating the organic aspect, and does not address current commercial indoor growing which hopefully can be dealt with through other means. The Humboldt Medical Marijuana Advisory Panel (HuMMAP) has also  presented its draft policy to the county supervisors — which includes graduated licensing fees for cultivation starting at $200 a year for 100 square feet of mature plant canopy, and allows for immediate outside interests to begin large scale growing, if they can afford the $300,000 for 40,00 square feet.

With regard to the HuMMAP proposal, Lovelace told the Times-Standard that the guidelines addressed the issue of growing statewide and reiterated what he had told me:

We’d all like to have some authority at the local level.  But I think we’d like to have a baseline which we can work with.

The County Supervisors who, by the very nature of the jobs seem determined to regulate, tax and control marijuana growing, will no about come up with a plan, hopefully a workable and affordable solution that will benefit farmers, the environment, consumers and California–and possibly by extension the country as more and more states open their minds to medical marijuana and eventual legalization.

Willie Nelson recites hemp facts and advocates for legalization.

Female plants are valued in Humboldt; they produce the buds. The male plants are winnowed and yanked out. When it comes to trimming time, women are valued, too. They do most of the trimming, at about $25 an hour. Cash. Under the table.

Some people might think it’s sorta sexist that women do that work–and there is a sense that most of the trimmers hired for a harvest are young, perky and pretty, leading to grumbles among some of the older workers–but the logic was explained to me by a veteran grower:

It’s more fun and easier to sit around a bunch of women. They are in general better at removing the leaves.  And then there’s the matter of safety.  Women are less likely to organize rip-offs. It’s necessary to have a discreet work force, with some locals supervising and others who short term and not form the area.

An indoor grower gets three harvests a year, and may have the trimming done in a location away from his grow house, again for safety.  Music plays, food is supplied, and while it’s work, it’s more fun than WalMart and higher paying.  A trimming gig can cover the cost of school for a semester, a new car, a trip, or savings.

One woman I spoke to, along time Humboldt resident, had never worked in the ganja business, but after loosing her job was going to take the plunge. She said it was getting harder though to  find a gig because

the trust fund kids come up to earn money for their festival tickets, since their parents won’t give it to them

Gigs are found by word of mouth, through friends of friends, though having worked before for the same grower.

Along with the seasonal, primarily female trimmers, there are men and women who tend large grows and who perform specialized horticulture techniques. Legalization could change the pay for trimming and other related work associated with both indoor and outdoor growing.

For about $15,000 a grower can invest in a machine that turns out perfectly trimmed, standardized buds, a further encroachment on the underground labor pool.

So with legalization, whither or wither Humboldt?

So this morning I went into the fields and kicked it in an anachronistic but fundamental way, sexing plants and pulling the males by hand. This is done for two reasons. Growers, indoor and out, don’t want male plants to pollinate the females; and this farmer, like many of the OG Original Growers up in Humboldt wants to keep plant count down to comply with Prop 215 and more importantly federal sentencing guidelines. I was on an outdoor organic grow where the farmer has raised pot for over two decades and now is able to work on refining seed strains and creating new breeds, rather than growing purely for profit. He has other businesses now, and works on cross breeding decorative flowering garden plants of various sorts, but has a love an respect for the weed which got him to this plateau.

The male cannabis plants have little pointy horns, the females thin white hairs. I am slow at identifying them but good at pulling them out. But I don’t seem to have much of future as a ganja worker at least in skill, since the farmer has pulled twenty to my inexperienced six.

The plants smell great, green and musky, they are sticky and thick-stemmed. Years ago a company called Frantic Farmer baked pot cookies and other goods with butter made in huge vats cooked down with male leaves, shake and stems as well as the trim and waste from females. Everything form punk rock clubs to Drivers Ed class was a lot more fun with a snack of those. Luckily we didn’t have to watch Red Asphalt.

There is now a medical use for the leaves of the males, which are allegedly non-psychoactive, as an anti-inflammatory.  However these boys won’t be making it to the dispensary; they are are slated for a mulch pile, since there are plenty of males for the dispensaries.

Arcata, pop 14,000 is bucolic historic little town, home to Humboldt State University and the epicenter of grower chic, replete with a French style bakery, wine shops and a creperie.  The old frontier hotel with beautiful tile floors and ornate ceiling panels is owned by the local Native American tribe, and the bars lining the square which once  served the loggers, and still has some noontime drinkers see a huge uptick in young faces as soon as classes start up.

This could be just a basic college and tourist town, a stop on the 101 before you get to Loleta for the cheese, or Ferndale for the cemetery and county fair.  But the underground economy is what has pumped real life into this town, and at a cost to the environment.

Growing uses electricity, a lot of it. The Humboldt County Journal reports that one grow house case prosecuted by the DA was using 10,000 kWh, or about 20 times the average household. Sadly solar panels won’t make enough to fuel a grow house.

The extra electricity used by grows in Humboldt County totals an astounding 90 million kWhs a year — about 70 times the total output of all the solar panels in the county, or enough to power 13,000 typical homes. Generating that electricity, even with PG&E’s relatively low-carbon grid, puts 20,000 metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. And that’s without considering the energy and environmental costs of using chemical fertilizers, which are significant.

But legalization comes with a bonus for many electricity consumers in the Emerald Triangle. Should Prop 19 pass, there will be traceable, reportable income streams for growers, and commercial growers will be paying taxes And their electricity bills.

The Humboldt Journal also reports:

Many growers have no reportable income so they qualify for subsidized electricity under PG&E’s “CARE” program, which is intended to help low income households keep the lights on. That means we all pay higher electricity rates and underwrite lower rates for growers who use this assistance program.

I’m all for helping low income folks. But like the kid from AmeriCorps speculated:

Seems like there’s a lot of income here, just not on paper.

Legalization will allow anyone who can to grow enough for themselves on a minimum 5′x5′ plot, with individual municipalities being able to set a larger space for private per person use.

Off grid growing currently presents environmental challenges as well. The Journal reports:

Grows on the grid are only part of the story. Many of the largest indoor grows are off-grid in the more remote areas of the county. These operations use diesel generators to provide the electricity and have even worse environmental consequences, since there are fuel spills as well as CO2 emissions. Setting aside the issue of spills, we used estimates from Jack Nelson of the Humboldt County Drug Task Force of the number and size of off-grid grows to estimate the amount of CO2 they emit — another 20,000 metric tons a year.

These clandestine remote grows, like the on-grid ones, allow for year ’round crops of weed to supply medical marijuana clubs and dispensaries state wide, as well as going to out of state distributors that aren’t so above ground.

I know some people that got in a lot of trouble for doing out state deals. Like, busted.

said one of my contacts.

Next: I sex plants and pull males.

Sonisphere, the huge heavy metal fest swings through Europe this summer with acts like Slayer, Anthrax, Motley Crue, Alice Cooper and Iggy Pop. I caught the headbang-athon here in Stockholm this rainy Saturday.

My friend Lyssa B who is crew on Leonard Cohen–he’s playing Sunday–staggered through the mud and crowds with wristbands and badges which were supposed to be for artist area. security–mostly volunteer kids– sent us to different gates where each time we were told to either go back where we’d been or given odd directions. We took a breather to watch a great set by Iggy Pop and that’s when I got to talk to Kevin from Southern California who was there for show. He had the same wristbands we did. So of course I asked him about Prop 19.

That’ll be my first election, I’ll be turning 18 in time to vote and I’m for legalization. My dad is a lawyer and I think the prisons are overcrowded and that someone getting strikes under three strikes for possession of pot is wrong. Their whole life could be ruined just for pot? That’s wrong. And so I’m really excited I get to vote!

After a great set by Iggy (with Mike Watt on bass!) and with Kevin in tow–he was quite a gentleman holding our umbrella above our heads like we were Puff Diddy– we once again tried to access the artist area since I’d wanted to ask the bands about Prop 19, but my plans were foiled by zealous though polite volunteers who weren’t sure what our credentials meant, so saying “no” just seemed safer for them. But at a certain point we went fuck it, stopped asking and somehow by strolling firmly, blithely in the rain with sunglasses on, heads down and ignoring security we ended up backstage. Literally.

yes, we were backstage. Literally.

Suddenly were behind the main stage in a no-man’s land with two clean portapotties (seriously awesome!) and a tiny pop up tent where several cool chick production assistants beckoned us over as the skies opened up. Ah, shelter! We fashioned ponchos from trash bags and tried to text and call our friend who was head of production to no avail since between the storm and tens of thousands people on their cell phones the circuits were jammed. I begged the clouds for a golf cart. Or a coffee machine. Alas there.

Despair as the rain increased. We were resigned to sitting there until..something. But ask and ye shall receive– a golf cart whizzed by and I ran out into the pelting rain.

Are you going to the production office?! Please can you take us?!

Tom the very cute golf cart dude took one look at we three drowning rats who obviously were someplace we weren’t supposed to be and said sure. Our drenched trio squeezed in, me on dashboard, and Lyssa B on Kevin’s lap as we zipped up some side road past crew catering and the rear of stalls selling food and tee shirts. Saint Tom dropped us at production where we were given rain ponchos to replace our trash bags couture, plus candy bars and coffee before being escorted to the fenced off grassy area close to the stage to watch Alice Cooper–a section we’d been sent away from at one point because–who knows why. But now we were there.

Alice so rocked. “Billion Dollar Babies” was awesome. And with real ponchos replacing our rubbish sack wear, we didn’t mind the damp. Until it started to hail, at which point we hightailed it back to production and were ferried in van by a charming tour vet named Duke. He dropped the three of us at the train station which had we hiked to would have be a 30 minute walk. In the rain.

As he drove us through the vast park Duke showed us the community gardens which have a several year waiting list for plots– and he told us the royal residence, which is also on the grounds, has 300 rooms but the newly married princess wants a bigger one. At least it will provide construction jobs.

It wasn’t the day we had envisioned but it was pretty darn fun, despite being soaked to the skin and not getting to exactly where I was trying to be. Met some nice people, managed one discussion about Prop 19 and saw parts of the festival most attendees don’t. It was a pretty rad adventure.

Tonight, Sunday, it’s Leonard Cohen followed by a few days here then on to Gothenburg for Way Out West, a citywide music fest.