ERFSA Luncheon Presentation: Humboldt Cannabis Reform Initiative
Tuesday, November 14 ERFSA Luncheon Presentation: Humboldt Cannabis Reform Initiative
Next Tuesday, November 14, come and hear about the “Humboldt Cannabis Reform Initiative: A Controversial Voter Initiative” that will appear on the March 5, 2024, ballot. Cal Poly Professor Emerita Betsy Watson, UC Davis Retired Professor Mark Thurmond, and Humboldt County Growers Alliance Policy Director Ross Gordon, et al, will discuss the initiative. This will be the third Fall luncheon presentation of the Humboldt Emeritus and Retired Faculty and Staff Association, ERFSA, at the Baywood Country Club in Arcata. Food and beverages will be available for purchase. Doors open at 11:30 a.m. and the presentation will begin at noon.
The purpose of the Humboldt Cannabis Reform Initiative, the HCRI, according to its proponents, is to amend the Humboldt County General Plan to protect residents, landowners, and our beautiful natural environment from harm caused by large-scale industrial cannabis cultivation. The Initiative would amend the Humboldt County General Plan, Humboldt County Local Coastal Plans, and Humboldt County Code as they pertain to commercial cannabis cultivation. The Initiative would improve enforcement of environmentally responsible cultivation practices, protect watershed health for residents, property owners and ecosystems, and support the small-scale, high-quality, and sustainable type of cultivation that made Humboldt famous.
According to the “Vote No” side, in 2016 and 2018, the Humboldt Board of Supervisors passed two separate land use ordinances and completed environmental reviews to regulate and mitigate the environmental impacts of cannabis cultivation in Humboldt County. These ordinances and environmental analysis were developed through hundreds of hours of public input from people in every corner of the county, including cannabis cultivators, environmental groups, and neighborhood groups as well as the county and state officials who would be responsible for implementing the program. If Measure A were to pass, opposition purports the Board of Supervisors would be further restricted from amending Humboldt’s cannabis ordinances, preventing the ordinance from being further amended in response to public input or changes to state or federal cannabis policy.
We hope to present a balanced perspective on this initiative and would ask participants to hold their questions and comments until both sides present their perspectives. All in-person guests should be fully COVID-19 vaccinated and may wear masks while attending. Meet and greets begin at 11:30 a.m. Foods and beverages can be ordered before the presentation which will commence at noon. All ERFSA lectures are open to the entire North Coast community. You need not be retired, a member of Humboldt ERFSA, or purchase lunch. Our next presentation will be on December 12, with Executive Director Emma Breacain of the Humboldt Literacy Project who will discuss local literacy statistics and what the HLP is doing to enhance literacy in Humboldt County.
If you are a retired faculty or staff of Cal Poly Humboldt, please consider joining our organization. Find more information at erfsa.humboldt.edu.
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Press Release by James Floss
Communications Chair of the Humboldt ERFSA Executive Committee
Monday, November 6, 2023
jmf2@humboldt.edu
707-387-7091
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