Hezekiah Allen, a Southern Humboldt native who used his rural roots to fuel a career of cannabis advocacy in Sacramento, will step down from his position as executive director of the California Growers Association to play a more hands-on role in pushing small cannabis farms past the dozens of legal barriers standing in their way.
Allen will join the Emerald Grown farming cooperative, an organization centered around aggregating smaller farms to lend them more staying power in the industry. That means more organizational work and less big-picture advocacy for Allen, although he will retain a seat on the Growers Association board of directors.
The move, he said, will create an opportunity for new leadership at the helm of the association following his four-year tenure.
“I knew four years ago that the most useful thing to do with my time is to work on legislation,” he told the Times-Standard.
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