THE POT ECONOMY: NO ONE SEEMS TO KNOW IF IT EXISTS

How much of Mendocino County's economy marijuana represents was one
of the biggest questions at a Saturday forum on "Life After
Legalization" at the Saturday Afternoon Club in Ukiah - and no one
has any real answers.

The forum, brought south by Humboldt County's KMUD radio host Anna
Hamilton from where it started last month, aimed to answer the myriad
questions about what should happen if the voters pass the Tax
Cannabis 2010 California ballot initiative.

About 200 people from all angles of the question filled the room to
its capacity: growers, workers, property owners, patients, business
people, government representatives, media and people who were "just
curious."

There were differing views about what legalization would do to the
price of marijuana, with some believing it would drive down the price
and displace trimmers currently paid between $20 and $40 per hour,
and others believing legalization would increase demand.

Either way, it was obvious that the people in the room weren't
satisfied with the answers Ukiah Chamber of Commerce CEO Burt Mosier
offered about how the initiative, if it passes, will affect the
area's economy. He said he has no hard, cold numbers showing where
growers shop, and how much local businesses depend on them.

"All the time, I keep hearing from my members that ... the influx of
money makes a difference in their survival; I know that," Mosier
said. "I have members who tell me it's the only way they can survive.
I have members who tell me they're absolutely against it. I have
members who don't know what to do."

Asked how many medical marijuana industry representatives were
chamber members, Mosier said he doesn't discuss members'
information.

Pressed further by another audience member, Mosier said some of his
members depend on growers' patronage and others don't believe any
cannabis dollars come through their doors.

"I don't know if that's real or not," he said.

Les Tar, a KMFB radio host, said he wouldn't be snowballed, and that
"The whole county is lubricated, baby, with marijuana dollars!"

Mosier asked Tarr if he had the numbers to back up his claim, and
reiterated that he was only reporting what chamber members had told
him.

Another man asked him if chamber members saw tourism from patients
coming into Mendocino County to sample its marijuana.

"In economic development in Mendocino County, it is very hard to put
your finger on numbers that you can prove," Mosier said. "I know
numbers, I can't prove them, I can't disprove them."

He continued, "Until we start having the conversations out in the
public, out in the open, and people are willing to share, there's no
way that I can say to you that I have numbers that I can present to
you and I can verify them."

Another man asked if Mosier knew where local growers spend their
money, if not in Mendocino County.

"No, I don't, because you won't tell me," Mosier said.

The same audience member commented that local growers do shop local,
to which Mosier answered that the chamber supports localization, but
doesn't have verifiable numbers.

A woman in the audience said Mosier's presence at the forum alone
showed progress in the movement for marijuana to become part of the
area's mainstream.

She asked how those in the marijuana industry could get buy-in from
the business community to brand and market the county's
"hand-crafted, GMO-free, organic, native Mendocino County marijuana."

Mosier said he heard talk of boutiques being established, marketing
the county's organic marijuana with existing brands and how to turn
the industry into tourism, but emphasized again the need for "open
and honest conversation."

Asked by one man how to channel dollars and support into the effort
to find support and representation for the growing community, Mosier
recommended "becom(ing) engaged in the process" at the city and
county levels.

One woman asked if the chamber could hold meetings to expose local
merchants to the issue.

"We're open to any dialog that affects this community. You all gave
me a bad time when we were talking about the shopping, but I have a
question for the rest of you," Mosier said, "When you all go into the
stores, do you tell the people who you are? Do you tell the people
where these dollars are coming from? Do you think that there's a
magic formula that automatically pops it out? Do these business
owners know?"

Mosier's questions met with a mixture of laughter and
anger.

One man shouted from the back of the room, "Do you tell people where
your money comes from when you make a purchase? Why the hell should
we?"

A man from Marin County noted that its chamber and city council wrote
a letter stating it supported its growers despite the threat of
federal raids.

"My point is that your chamber should know what's going on here. I
know what's going on here, and I'm from a long way away. You should
know what's going on here," the man said.

That comment started a small verbal scuffle, where one person said
the speaker was "dead wrong," and another told them to "knock it off."

One woman stood up and suggested that merchants who are chamber
members could ask patrons to fill out an anonymous form asking if the
money came from marijuana growing. The suggestion got a mixed response.

Mosier suggested people could "mark their dollars," which met with
louder mixed reaction in the crowd.

Asked if a marijuana growing collective could join the chamber,
Mosier said, "As far as I'm concerned, yes." That was met with applause.

He added that a poll that went out to chamber members when Measure B
passed - repealing the county's Measure G, which allowed anyone to
grow up to 25 plants and imposing state standards on medical
marijuana - came back "dead-even."

One man urged growers present to join the chamber.

"He's talking to us like we're them and us. Let's join them," the
speaker said.

Asked if the chamber could afford to study the impact of the
marijuana industry on the county's economy, Mosier said he wished it
did.

The man suggested asking economics students working on a PhD to do
the research as a way to get it done free.

"That's one of the things that we would get behind if that would come
out of this and the future meetings," Mosier said.

One woman suggested forming a seller's collective so prices can be
set proactively, rather than being determined by the buyers in
Southern California.

One man asked if someone already in business growing marijuana could
join the chamber.

"That's a difficult question," Mosier said. "We're going to have to
talk about that."