Medical marijuana advocates are hoping to give the Humboldt County cannabis industry the tools to navigate a post-legalization world.
The Civil Liberties Monitoring Project is presenting a forum June 19 in Garberville, entitled "Cannabis Health and Safety: The Chemistry, The Economics and the Politics."
The forum features experts from California and Montana who have taken a "transparent" business approach to cultivating and dispensing marijuana. The Garberville Veterans Association is co-sponsoring this presentation, and the event starts at 7 p.m. at Veterans Hall.
Sierra Knolle, a member the Medical Cannabis Safety Council and an organizer of the event, said the intention of the forum is to create a positive outlet for people to share their ideas.
"The intention is not to promote legalization," she said. "But, should things become legal, these are some of the things you can create."
The forum comes after pot activists, growers, officials and members of the business community met in March to discuss what Humboldt County will do if pot is legalized. Part of the discussion focused on regulating the general marijuana industry as a solution. Similarly, the forum next week is focusing on what the medical marijuana industry can do.
The Medical Cannabis Safety Council that Knolle serves on is made up of patients, dispensary owners, advocates and growers who want to create industry-wide regulations to address issues, such as contaminations and good-neighbor relations.
One of the keynote speakers at the forum, Michael Geci, performs tests on medical cannabis at his lab in Montana to identify potency and determine the optimal strength for individual patients, Knolle said. Geci, a longtime emergency room and holistic medicine doctor, is the founder of the Montana Botanical Analysis Lab.
The other keynote speaker is Montana Public Radio commentator and lobbyist Kate Cholewa.
Nolle said both speakers have extensive knowledge about the "mainstream" cannabis industry in Montana -- which has some lessons that could be applied to Humboldt and California in general.
"California is supposedly taking the lead in the medical cannabis movement. It's really interesting and inspiring to hear what other states are doing and see how successful they are," she said.
Other panelists include local attorney Ed Denson, California NORML deputy director Ellen Komp, and Darryl Cherney, a board member of Southern Humboldt Community Hospital. Syreeta Lux and Charley Custer of the Humboldt Medical Marijuana Advisory Panel and Kellie Dodds of 707 Cannabis College will also give brief introductions of their newly-formed organizations.
Custer said he hopes this conversation will help the local industry develop a plan for regulation, so that when policymakers are ready to address the issue, there will already be a plan in place.
In addition, he said other officials in California have already begun looking at how the marijuana industry can be transformed into a big money industry. And Humboldt needs to catch up, Custer said.
"Were not doing anything -- were being cut out of the evolving market," he said.
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Times-Standard
Author: Donna Tam
Copyright: 2010 Times-Standard
* Thanks to MedicalNeed for submitting this article
The Civil Liberties Monitoring Project is presenting a forum June 19 in Garberville, entitled "Cannabis Health and Safety: The Chemistry, The Economics and the Politics."
The forum features experts from California and Montana who have taken a "transparent" business approach to cultivating and dispensing marijuana. The Garberville Veterans Association is co-sponsoring this presentation, and the event starts at 7 p.m. at Veterans Hall.
Sierra Knolle, a member the Medical Cannabis Safety Council and an organizer of the event, said the intention of the forum is to create a positive outlet for people to share their ideas.
"The intention is not to promote legalization," she said. "But, should things become legal, these are some of the things you can create."
The forum comes after pot activists, growers, officials and members of the business community met in March to discuss what Humboldt County will do if pot is legalized. Part of the discussion focused on regulating the general marijuana industry as a solution. Similarly, the forum next week is focusing on what the medical marijuana industry can do.
The Medical Cannabis Safety Council that Knolle serves on is made up of patients, dispensary owners, advocates and growers who want to create industry-wide regulations to address issues, such as contaminations and good-neighbor relations.
One of the keynote speakers at the forum, Michael Geci, performs tests on medical cannabis at his lab in Montana to identify potency and determine the optimal strength for individual patients, Knolle said. Geci, a longtime emergency room and holistic medicine doctor, is the founder of the Montana Botanical Analysis Lab.
The other keynote speaker is Montana Public Radio commentator and lobbyist Kate Cholewa.
Nolle said both speakers have extensive knowledge about the "mainstream" cannabis industry in Montana -- which has some lessons that could be applied to Humboldt and California in general.
"California is supposedly taking the lead in the medical cannabis movement. It's really interesting and inspiring to hear what other states are doing and see how successful they are," she said.
Other panelists include local attorney Ed Denson, California NORML deputy director Ellen Komp, and Darryl Cherney, a board member of Southern Humboldt Community Hospital. Syreeta Lux and Charley Custer of the Humboldt Medical Marijuana Advisory Panel and Kellie Dodds of 707 Cannabis College will also give brief introductions of their newly-formed organizations.
Custer said he hopes this conversation will help the local industry develop a plan for regulation, so that when policymakers are ready to address the issue, there will already be a plan in place.
In addition, he said other officials in California have already begun looking at how the marijuana industry can be transformed into a big money industry. And Humboldt needs to catch up, Custer said.
"Were not doing anything -- were being cut out of the evolving market," he said.
NewsHawk: Ganjarden: 420 MAGAZINE
Source: Times-Standard
Author: Donna Tam
Copyright: 2010 Times-Standard
* Thanks to MedicalNeed for submitting this article
