The Herb Friendly Hipster: April 2010

Recent news that California might be headed towards full legalization soon has reverberated across the Land of Schwarzenegger (wow, I spelled that correctly the first time on the first try ).You would be surprised how it’s affecting the local, and still illegal, growers that make up the most famous county in Cali for marijuana aficionados.

The question of the night: Will marijuana be legalized this year? “Flip a coin,” Hamilton said. Whether it’s legalized right away or there is a wait, one thing is certain, the fiercely independent growers of the past must now come together in solidarity if Humboldt County is to survive.

Underground growers that make up a large percentage of Humboldt county, sat down with municipal officials to determine the best way to assimilate once marijuana is made legal (whether that happens now or later doesn’t really matter). There are many problems they’ll face (after almost 40 years of uninterrupted growing, save the occasional helicopter and DEA arrest).

Back-to-the-Landers (BTTL) who went to Humboldt county in the 1960’s will have to join the rest of society, and that’s where the friction will form. The BTTL just want to sell some grass and live life without mainstream society encroaching on them. Something a lot of Cannabis connoisseurs can understand (I live below my means and its peacefully).

Humboldt County Supervisor Mark Lovelace sits on a task force committee that will ultimately be involved in defining the regulatory issues surrounding grows once legal.during the meeting Lovelace stated ‘back-to-the-landers’ of the 1960s came to Humboldt County to ‘hide out’ and grow pot, and it was time to come into the limelight and pull together to grow the ‘best’ pot they can.

No longer is the issue whether to grow pot in Humboldt County, or not, but to grow the best for resale. One back-to-the-lander was more than eager to take to the microphone, countering Lovelace’s ’somewhat naive’ view. In so many words, she said, ‘We came here to find a connection to the Earth. Marijuana was a gift that allowed us to live this life here in this beautiful place (A lot of people think of smoking cannabis as something cool to do, A way to say fuck the man but I disagree its a lifestyle a way of life its not about the bottom line or maximizing profit's).

I would side with the back-to-the-landers, but isn’t it better to pay taxes and be a legitimate business than it is to try and elude police? Then again I see the concern you have,No one wants to see Humboldt turned into the next Napa of cannabis commercialized glamorized.Independent Humboldt growers, I’ll bet you can be a legitimate business, but still not sell out.

On Friday March 20th commemorated the seventh anniversary of war in Iraq. This day in 2003 the U.S. Air Force aircraft dropped the first bombs on Baghdad.Word on the street was or we were told that The former president Saddam Hussein possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction which was complete horse shit.On May 1, 2003 President Bush announced the end of hostilities yet seven years later the country remains unsettled and at times seeming like it’s on the brink of civil war except for the foreign military presence and numerous complaints friendly fire and innocent people being shot at and bombed these photo's show the journey of what seven years of conflict has brought, it shows both the good the bad the ugly on both sides of the battlefield.