Tag archives: weed
At a time when, nationally, we’re discussing (i.e. screaming at one another) democracy, I thought it appropriate to bring the issue a bit closer to home. You see, part of any great democracy is the idea of Checks and Balances – it’s what separates us from authoritarianism. Unfortunately, in Santa Barbara we tend toward tyranny […]
Earlier this week, the County Board of Supervisors took final action to amend the county ordinance to require all cannabis cultivation facilities to apply for and obtain a Conditional Use Permit (CUP), effective January 31, 2023. “The CUP requirement caps a year-long effort by the Coalition and the community to strengthen controls of cannabis cultivation […]
Until my early 30s, I had never smoked anything. In fact, the practice of smoking appalled me. Sometimes I’d be with a group of friends, and they would start smoking a cigarette of some kind, which they passed from hand to hand. They would invite me to join in, but I made it plain that […]
On Monday, March 16, Santa Barbara Interim Police Chief Barney Melekian issued a statement responding to a March 12 Los Angeles Magazine article that raised allegations of corruption and undue influence involving Anthony Wagner, the department’s public information officer, who previously helped run the city’s cannabis dispensary licensing process. Melekian’s announcement stated that he was […]
If we’ve learned anything from the “post-truth” era in which we find ourselves, it’s that substantiated facts are critical to productive public discourse. Allegations and aspersions must be legitimately corroborated. This is the only way to emerge into what will hopefully become a post post-truth era. Across our nation there remain countless fires still smoldering […]
A long–simmering conflict over cannabis odor and pesticide use continues in Carpinteria Smell, What Smell? On a recent afternoon, Hans Brand steers his electric golf cart-type vehicle from the main office of his Carpinteria cannabis farm to a sprawling greenhouse that seems big enough to fit a football field inside it. Inside the structure, at […]
The Smell of Excess Bob Hazard in his recent column (“Election Intrigue in Montecito,” MJ # 25/29) described me as “a noted investigative reporter [and] an anti-cannabis crusader,” which is not exactly the case. Like the majority of those in Santa Barbara County, I voted for Prop 64 (and, in my case even Das Williams). […]
