my parents purchased in 1975.
They moved up to "the hill" in the
spring of 1982, I was born that
September. Those were the early
days of the Emerald Triangle
Cannabis boom. As masons,
bricklayers and carpenters, my
people moved to Northern
California to homestead but they
underestimated the difficulties
involved.
They were lucky enough to have
good neighbors and a strong,
supportive community. They
found work in the building trades
and soon found themselves also
participating in a side vocation
that helped folks to make a go of
homesteading in arid, harsh
country. In those days, cannabis
was about personal use and a
means to an ends, a way for
people to survive and live out in
the woods the way they wanted
to.
Throughout the Reagan and Bush
years, the government used
Marines and National Guard
troops against the citizens of
Northern California. In July of
1985 they landed a helicopter in
the meadow below our place and
proceeded to ransack the
homestead. The federal
government attempted to seize
our land for the 30 cannabis
plants grown in a communal
family garden.
This vast governmental overreach
is the background to the modern
cannabis movement and should
provide insight into the difficulties
that heritage cannabis farmers
face in overcoming decades of
stigma from living under a deviant
label applied by the dominant
culture by force.
This traditional backdrop shifted in
monumental fashion with the
passage of California Proposition
215 in 1996. Prior to that, all
cannabis had been illegal
everywhere in the U.S., a black
and white issue. With the passage
of 215, there became a gray area
that was written in broad fashion
to protect citizens who found
relief, support or enhancement of
wellness from cannabis use.
As with all industries, cannabis
cultivation developed and
industrial practices began to be
applied. Unlike other industries
however, there were no
guidelines, no best management
practices, no standards of practice,
and no effective regulation. The
heavy-handed attempt at
enforcement served to force the
plant further underground, where
it became more accessible to
organized crime and large scale
criminal operators.
There came a time in rural
California when cannabis became
an end in itself. Two kinds of
people arrive as cannabis
emigrants to the rural
communities; homesteaders and
resource extractors. In the old
days, most of the people were
homesteaders; in the past ten
years the balance has shifted
somewhat and we see the
negative reports splashed across
the headlines.
The Emerald Growers Association
(EGA) was formed in 2010 from a
merger of the Humboldt Growers
Association and Mendo Grown.
The founders led the organization
through great turmoil and
tribulation; half of the founding
board members had their farms
raided in that first year and it was
a very scary time for the
community.
We thank the Founding Members
of EGA for their effort in the cause,
you laid the foundation for the
work we now seek to accomplish.
EGA spent a tremendous amount
of energy fighting the subpoenas
of the 9.31 program and working
to backstop the safety of our
community during the years of
2011-2012 and the fight left
everyone weary and bewildered.
What had seemed such a heady
and promising time not long
before had collapsed into the
same old feeling of unease and
fear.
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