In order to allow more local cannabis farmers access to the statewide market, the Humboldt County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to continue its temporary permitting program for qualified growers.
Cannabis industry stakeholders voiced support for prolonging the interim permit program on Tuesday, saying it allows cultivators to enter the statewide market while allowing them to work to bring their farm into compliance.
Rain & Zepp attorney Beorn Zepp of Eureka said he represents several cannabis businesses. While he supported prolonging the program, Zepp said that it is only a temporary fix and that growers will need annual permits to obtain their permanent state business license.
“If we don’t have some significant movement on the final actual permits, we are going to arrive at yet another train wreck that holds up the entire industry and the permitting process,” Zepp said. “... At the rate we’re going, the present round of permits are going to be being processed for years and we’re not going to be able to get this industry off the ground locally at this rate.”
The state’s cannabis marketplace opened Jan. 1, but only to those businesses that have received permits from their local government and a license from the state.
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