Armageddon

[botias]

Around here there is talk of a financial Armageddon. Forget health care reform, I'm talking about the legalization of pot, ganja, and other names I'm not hip enough to know about.

There used to be a reason why there were communities in this area, 350 miles from anywhere else by unreliable roads. In the south of the U.S. and probably east too, a rich stand of virgin timber had about 10,000 board feet per acre. In contrast, the average stand of redwood upon an acre in Mendocino county gave 44,000 board feet per acre. In Humboldt, one single acre yielded an average of 84,000 board feet of straight, knot-free, all but rot-proof wood. But, hey, all that ended a generation ago and the peak was over long before that. Anyone who's read the Lorax knows why.

Why this is not a ghost town: Charity from wealthier areas. The county government is the largest local employer (shows you something really odd is going on right there), and two-thirds of the county budget and operations are mandated and funded by the state and federal governments to the tune of $65 million dollars a year; there is also a State University campus and a community college. The other reason would be pot, which some estimate brings in $100 million. If the bottom falls out of the marijuana market with legalization, it could conceivably take everything I own with it. At least it would be a groove-tastic way to go.

Comments

[manoah.livejournal.com]

My niece attends Humboldt State University. Is that in your neck of the woods? Looks like beautiful country.

[botias.livejournal.com]

It is gorgeous country, but it's hard to miss with coastline, really. If it's rugged it's majestic, and if it's flat, it's serene.

[brunettepet.livejournal.com]

I hadn't thought about legalization having such a devastating effect on the middle men. I realize that the growers/suppliers spend in the community, but don't they have to keep it on the down low?

Your neck of the woods is gorgeous. I grew up in San Francisco and really miss the west coast.

[botias.livejournal.com]

Sure they pay cash and/or have front companies, but they still spend. Some of A's computer clients are realtors, for example. The realtors serving Southern Humboldt are doing just fine, no housing or mortgage crisis. People down there just pay cash for real estate. A goodly amount of A's income is probably similar, a few degrees separated from 'the industry'. With medical marijuana, there was quasi legalization which was not harmful; one of our local cities now gets a big chunk of its tax revenue from above-board dispensary/grow operations. The concern is that once corporations get involved, growing elsewhere, such small fry won't have a chance. Some people say our area's only hope is to become the 'Napa Valley' of ganja.

[elynne.livejournal.com]

Or - it could bring about "marijuana plantations" and greenhouses, which could also bring in researchers interested in maximizing medicinal yields, which would also bring in research/testing of marijuana-based medications, thus creating an entire new source of high-tech jobs and income for the area.

Or the common banana slug could suddenly evolve super-strong psinoic powers and enslave the entire population of humanity in or near the redwood forests. That'd probably ruin the economy - or it might improve it, who knows?

[botias.livejournal.com]

Either way, it's likely to get interesting around here.