Author Archives: humboldtunderground

Skip Reggae On The River This Year

Posted on August 4, 2016 | 5 comments

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Several local news outlets including the North Coast Journal, Lost Coast Outpost, and the Mad River Union have reported that Jamaican reggae artist and outspoken homophobe Sizzla will be headlining this weekends Reggae on the River Festival in Sohum. Sizzla is well known for his violent anti LGBT lyrics. I think it’s fair to say that intentionally promoting violence against the LGBT community goes against some people’s values here in Humboldt. Naturally this has begun to stir up some local controversy.

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Posted in Uncategorized

4 Signs Your Cannabis Business Is Ready To Go Legit

Posted on June 13, 2016 | 2 comments

These are exciting times we are living through. Ten years ago if you would have told me we would be on the cusp of legalization, growers would be going mainstream and major politicians would be making marijuana part of their rhetoric, I don’t know if I would have believed you. We have come along way, but we are not there yet. For a lot of entrepreneurs it’s still hard to know when to put yourself out there. After all you don’t want to miss the boat, but people do still get busted all the time.

The other day I was interviewing one such entrepreneur for a story for a local paper. This person gave me all the details of their business in a very candid interview. It sounded like a great idea. They had put a lot of work into it and already had employees, forms, a business name and customers. About 2 hours after the interview they called me insisting that I don’t publish it. What happened I asked? After all they knew what it was for, knew it was on the record and we had planned it a few weeks in advance.

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Posted in The Industry, Uncategorized

How Much Are People Making In Humboldt’s Black Market Cannabis Economy

Posted on May 23, 2016 | 5 comments

Many people who work in the emerald triangle’s underground economy think of it as just a job. However, for the majority of people outside the cannabis industry there is a lot of mystery. It makes sense, a black market is by definition veiled, secretive, and hidden in the shadows. We all know there is a lot of money to be made growing cannabis, but for outsiders that’s usually the limit of their economic understanding. There is a lot of resentment, because people feel that the rule breakers and outlaws are getting rich easily while the rest of us work hard for much less.

So how much are people making? Who’s getting rich? and how rich? To answer these questions I have spoken with dozens of people working in the industry. It’s time to bring some transparency to the black market economy that so many benefit from, yet so few understand. Given the nature of the business, hard data will probably never be available, so consider this more of a sketch than an exact measurement.

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Posted in Research, The Industry, Uncategorized

Go Big or Go Home: Why one more big year isn’t the answer

Posted on April 25, 2016 | 1 comment

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You hear it from your buddy who just bought another parcel, it’s whispered in the grow shop, in the convoy of soil and water trucks humming on the back roads, “we have got to go big this year.” It seems someone is saying this every year in recent memory. There is always some boogieman right around the corner to bring the economy and the outlaw way of life to an abrupt and final end. New regulations, a new ballot initiative, big corporations, Mexican cartels moving in, prices dropping, other states legalizing, whatever it is, it seems there is always a compelling reason that if we don’t blow it up huge this year we are not going to get another chance.

Don’t get me wrong, there are real concerns. Statewide legalization is looking better every day. New medical marijuana policies further regulate and threaten an old way of life. Not to mention the head start that states like Colorado and cities like San Francisco seem to have on Humboldt. Prices drop and drop so farmers start shooting for quantity over quality to improve the margins.

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Posted in The Environment, The Industry, Uncategorized

The Humboldt Underground Community Survey: How do you feel about the future of cannabis in Humboldt?

Posted on February 24, 2016 | Leave a comment

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Please help us gauge the interests and concerns of the community by completing the survey. The surveys aim is to poll residents on emerging issues of cannabis legalization. The 10-question survey is completely anonymous and takes less than two minutes to complete.