Herbal Angels Gets Wings Clipped

It was a dramatic case of the left hand not knowing that the
right hand even existed, let alone what it was doing. Earlier this month, high
ranking Santa Barbara County planners had given the green light to Herbal
Angel’s proposed 102-acre marijuana operation on Cebada Canyon Road just
outside Lompoc; less than two weeks later, the same operation was the focus of a
law enforcement raid by 20 law enforcement officers associated with the
county’s Cannabis Compliance Team.

Along the way, they seized $1 million in alleged contraband
and recommended three felony charges be filed be filed against principals
behind Herbal Angels. The raid — with law enforcement officers wearing bullet-proof
vests — on Herbal Angels’ facility took place December 16. On December 4, the
county’s Planning Commission had held a hearing whether to grant Herbal Angels
the Conditional Use Permit it sought for a cultivation, processing, and
manufacturing operation. County planning staff had recommended approval.
Approval was delayed, however, when planning commissioners John Parke and
Michael Cooney pressed for more time to review the information and to consider
additional conditions.

Cooney would later say he was totally blindsided by the raid
as was county planning chief Lisa Plowman. “It was like waking up to find that
your new bride was a serial killer,” opined Cooney, not typically given to such
colorful imagery. The case of Herbal Angels highlights a significant gap in how
the county vets cannabis applications.