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Northern California County Bans Cannabis Cultivation

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Long before California legalized recreational cannabis, Northern California was known as a the capital for cannabis cultivation. Despite this long-standing reputation, the Northern California county of Calaveras is now banning cannabis.

According to San Francisco Gate, Calaveras Country put banning cannabis to a vote and is only giving farmers who currently hold permits three months to shut everything down.

This vote occurred right after California’s recreational sales launched. Now farmers are preparing to sue, since they already hold permits and pay taxes to the county government. Permits cost about $5,000, and the county has collected over $7 million in taxes from cultivators since 2016.

The county initially embraced cannabis because it was struggling financially, due to facing numerous hardships such as wildfire devastation. However, there are new members in the Calaveras County Board of Supervisors who won elections based partly because they promised to ban cannabis. “We have known this day could come and we have prepared for this eventuality for the last year,” Trevor Witke, president of the Calaveras Cannabis Alliance farmers’ group. “We are going to move forward with everyone who has been impacted by this decision.”

The Sacramento Bee explains that Placer, El Dorado and other counties in the area have also banned cannabis cultivation. This could be due to the fact that there are many illegal farms that thrive in those areas.

The San Francisco Gate also predicts that there are over 1,000 illegal farms in Calaveras County, in addition to the 200 legal ones. There has already been a history of tension between those who do and don’t support cannabis in the area, including well-documented bans on legal cannabis farms.

Although this is a major blow to farmers in the county, they do have some legal recourse because of the fees and taxes they paid, and will be seeking restitution.

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