[El Dorado County Growers Alliance]
December 29, 2017 - Placerville, CA The era of legal cannabis sales begins in California Monday, in some parts of the state, but not in El Dorado County. County residents who want to purchase adult-use cannabis or see a cannabis farm January 1st, 2018 will find “Nada nothing,” says, Rod Miller with the El Dorado County Growers Alliance [https://www.facebook.com/groups/1459211690844088/].
Despite months of community and Board of Supervisors meetings the County has yet to come up with a permitting system that allows adult-use retail sales and cultivation. “County residents will be taking their 100s of millions of dollars and the resulting jobs to other jurisdictions. The County developed fines but no legalizing permits for the County’s 1000s of existing cannabis growers,“ states Erin O’Neil President of the El Dorado County Growers Alliance.
“Cannabis could be an instant gold rush for El Dorado County, known for its ideal growing conditions and gold discovery history,” suggests Miller.
“The County has many unmet needs that cannabis business, tax and fee revenue can provide, such as, rural jobs, rural ambulances, pothole filling, homeless housing and addiction education in schools,” states Miller.
“We have intelligent Supervisors and County staff that can quickly create a legal market for adult-use cannabis to compete against the black market. County residents want access to adult-use cannabis similar to the access they enjoy to the County’s wineries,” said Miller.
The State began in mid-December approving temporary adult-use licenses for businesses in jurisdictions that approved local permitting programs. When the temporary licenses expire businesses will have to re-apply for annual licenses.
“The County cannabis growers and retail businesses have something to prove,” asserts Miller, “that they will be environmentally and community responsible businesses. Let us prove it.”
