Meeting of the Rotary Club of Eureka
March 5, 2012
The Marijuana Meeting
Lunch: Rasta Chicken and rice pilaf
Weather: Smoky, cold and overcast
S&P: 1362, soooooo high
President Pierson called the meeting to order 10 minutes early.
Dick Storre led the pledge.
Joe Mark led the invocation.
Nick Bertell introduced visiting Rotarians.
Guests (sort of):
Carlton Nielsen brought a guest
Gregg Williston brought one too
Greg Bowen brought his wife, Jenny
Russ Harris brought Chris Whitt of HAF
Mike Cunningham brought the Mosgofians
Jay Hockaday brought the manager from Hagadone Directories
Steve Knight brought the results of an investigation on our current president. President Pierson was harassed about fines and it will probably cost the sheriff some money.
Jennifer Budwig brought guests too.
Cathy Gardinier brought student guests, from Eureka High’s Avid program, Chamine Vong & Kabao Yang.
Recognitions:
Paul Brisso attempted to litigate his way out of a fine. Motion overturned, $10.
Birthdays and Anniversaries are in the book, congratulations.
Announcements:
Sally Arnot reminded the club that fireside sign ups are going on. If you don’t want to have to talk to PP Ingham, you’d better fill out the form on the table.
PP Justus and
John Bradley were called up and given certificates for their work on Honor Flight and Backpacks for Kids, respectively.
Mardi-Go-Braugh is this Saturday at Baywood Country Club….be there!
Students sent letters to thank the club for our Dictionary project. Bob Morse reminds us that we can get involved. County Rotary clubs gave dictionaries to every 3rd grader in the county.
Incoming President
Nancy Dean went to president training. There was drinking and goodwill. Next year’s rotary theme is “Peace Through Service.”
Carol Riche introduced Gail and Peter Mosgofian, who accepted a $1,000 small grant for Redwood Family Institute.
Ted Loring reminds us to see “Much Ado About Nothing,” March 31
st.
POT PROGRAM:
Past President
Tom Schallert introduced our speaker, Rotarian Jennifer “Bud” Budwig of Redwood Capital Bank, to speak about the marijuana industry.
Jennifer did a paper on the economic impact of legalized marijuana on Humboldt County. The paper was initially private, but due to high demand, Jennifer blazed ahead and made the findings public.
After the chronic falloff in timber and fishing, marijuana grew as an industry, buffering the county from decline.
Marijuana money affects all North Coast businesses. The likelihood of legalization continues to get higher. Taxes would go up but margins on marijuana growing will decline.
Marijuana costs roughly $400/pound to grow indoors, sells to a middleman for $2,500 and sells retail for $6,000.
There’s a chronic oversupply of ganj, and Proposition 215 provided cover for semi-legal production. A few forays into law enforcement oversight have been attempted and shut down on a federal level.
Other states are also becoming producers – 15 states have legalized marijuana on some level.
9/11 cut down on illegal importing, so much more marijuana is homegrown the past decade.
Jennifer says Humboldt grows the best herb.
FUN FACT: Redwood Capital Bank does not endorse the findings of this presentation.
Prices have come down significantly due to supply. This has a fiscal impact on the county.
Growers are resistant to legalization. Taxes? Checks? OSHA? Bummer, man.
Plants seized have generally increased over the past decade.
There are more seizures but way more sticky icky. The percentage of plants seized is much lower.
I’m sure we can hash this all out, grow business in Humboldt, and not let our economic dreams go up in smoke.
Let’s be blunt: About $1-3 billion dollars of marijuana is grown and sold from Humboldt County annually!! That’s a lot of joints.
Jennifer estimates that roughly $415 million dollars is circulated through the county based on Mary Jane annually. That’s 26% of our economy and is a conservative estimate.
Most local marijuana is exported.
There are a bunch of issues to work through on the way to legalization, including the federal laws which trump state law.
FUN FACT: Federally, you can get the death penalty for growing The Herb.
Jennifer was thanked, given a book of inspirational quotes, and the meeting ended 5 minutes late. Now for my glaucoma medication…..
Respectfully submitted,
John Harper
Christian Hill introduced student guests Tess Armstrong of Eureka High and Izzy Pai.
Special recognition for the two year anniversary of Lost Coast Rotaract, sponsored by our club. They've been busy on a multitude of community projects all around the county, very inspiring.
Mardi-Go-Braugh was a success, thanks to all who attended. President Pierson was awarded an honorary gift basket by Past President Ingham for his hard work.
TSA sent President Pierson a short grass skirt. Apparently Diane Cipperley went to Hawaii.
It was four wonderful weeks including a sunset whale watching trip. It was also $100 towards her Paul Harris.
Mel McGuire accepted our annual donation to the county science fair, presented by Jim Howard, Ziggy, and Nancy Dean. Last year 4 local students went on to the state science fair.
Carol Riche announced a small grant. $5000 was proudly awarded to Eureka High School to fund batting cages. They expect to have them up in the next couple weeks.
Fred Griffith kicked off March Madness.
Rex Bohn came in to kick off the auction process.
