{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"KZYX News","title":"Cannabis ad hoc recommendations too late for some","html":"","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":390,"description":"October 11, 2022 — The Board of Supervisors went through a dozen recommendations from a cannabis ad hoc committee led by Supervisors John Haschak and Glenn McGourty last week, sending five of them to another committee. Supervisors received assurance that other items are already being addressed, but cannabis advocates who stayed in the chambers until after 7:00 at night complained about a lack of urgency as state deadlines loom and operators give up on ever making it through the permit process.\r\n\r\nMark Schaeffer, who has chimed in on cannabis policy at every step of the ordinance and now serves as the policy chair of the Mendocino Cannabis Alliance, wept as he spoke about losing his farm. “I used to say I had a ten thousand square foot farm in Comptche,” he said. “It’s closed. Not only can I not pay for my taxes, likely I’m going to lose my land, and I don’t even have enough money to get fuel to get home. But I’m here. Why? Because I put everything into compliance. Because I believed. I believed in myself, my government, my community. Neither the county nor the state has given any of us a pathway to success. They have not given us a pathway at all. And now we perish.”\r\n\r\nMost of the ad hoc’s recommendations had to do with streamlining processes so local operators will have a better chance at complying with annual state license requirements.\r\nBecause the county’s ordinance did not go through California environmental review, individual growers have been struggling to keep up with regulatory requirements as they are being crafted.\r\n\r\nAnother process that has often been described, including by the Mendocino County Grand Jury, as building the airplane while it’s flying, is the rollout of the equity grant program, which was designed to aid cannabis business owners who were harmed by the war on drugs. The committee’s first recommendation was a three-part reiteration of Board direction to align the county’s program with the state’s requirements. Applicants have...","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/xZpAumwbhFUpJUYcwaQ1-q6snzOyqAm13l7cW6AWPCM/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS9mMzkz/NjAwNjc2OWMyZmFk/YWY2YTdmYjI5M2Mz/YWMxNy5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}