CANNABIS CONFERENCE CONTINUES: SOHUM MARIJUANA LEGALIZATION DISCUSSION
MAKES ITS WAY TO NORHUM

Those invested in the pot industry down south are bringing the
conversation to Northern Humboldt this weekend, with the hopes of
having an all-inclusive conversation.

Following a discussion earlier this year on what will happen to the
marijuana industry if pot is legalized, members of the recently formed
Humboldt Medical Marijuana Advisory Panel (HUMMAP) are continuing the
conversation by organizing.

March's unprecedented conversation, garnering the attention of local,
state and national media, resulted in a discussion about how to make
Humboldt County economically viable through third-party product
regulation and the branding of an environmentally-friendly technique
and product.

Organizer Anna Hamilton said this will be the first countywide
cannabis conference and she hopes growers -- legal or otherwise --
will come to the table.

"You can't do harm reduction unless you have put on everybody's
shoes," she said.

The line up will include local journalists, government officials,
lawyers and medical cannabis experts, as well as those involved with
the Bay Area cannabis industry. The meeting is scheduled from 2 p.m.
to 6 p.m. at the Bayside Grange and features more than 15 speakers.

Hamilton said bringing in those from the outside will give local
growers a chance to interact with people they may not agree with.
Speakers will include Dan Rush of the United Food and Commercial
Workers Union Local 5, which recently unionized hundreds of medical
marijuana workers, and Mauricio Garzon with the Proposition 19
campaign. Proposition 19 is an initiate to legalized and tax marijuana
sales and will be on the ballot in November.

Another speaker will be Kevin Hoover, editor of the local newspaper
the Arcata Eye. Hoover, who has gained national attention in recent
years for trying to bring Arcata's illegal grow house issue to light,
said he hopes to have a "rational discussion" at Saturday's meeting,
especially considering how heated conversations about legalization can
get. He said he recognizes HUMMAP's efforts to come up with a plan.

"We've got this multibillion dollar industry which is completely
entangled and bound up in a bunch of non-sensical and contradictory
laws ... rather than have this thing run away with itself, they are
starting to come up with a framework," he said.

Hamilton said some Humboldt County growers may have animosity toward
legalization or the large scale industry being proposed in the Bay
Area, and she hopes Saturday's conference will be a good discussion.

Most of all, Hamilton hopes Humboldt growers come out of the meeting
with a better sense of direction and a stronger voice.

"The people in the cities make the regulations without any
understanding of how it affects the rural growers," she said. "We
deserve a bigger place at the table when it comes to policy decisions
here. And, after 30 years of contributing to economic development ...
we have something to contribute, and we don't deserve to be
marginalized anymore."

For the meeting's full list of speakers and a schedule, go to
www.hummap.org .

IF YOU GO:

What: "Humboldt Cannabis -- A Future of Opportunity" cannabis conference

Where: Bayside Grange, 2297 Jacoby Creek Road, Bayside

When: 2 p.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday