I
laughed my way through the self-promoting article “Good
Farmers Can Be Good Neighbors,” especially the last statement where the
writers, John De Friel and Sara Rotman, voice
the whopper-of-all-fibs: “The community-at-large stands in support of Busy
Bee’s Organics and other local independent farmers.” This is so patently false and
disturbing; they nakedly attempt to mischaracterize the vast majority of
“neighbors” who are, in fact, fighting them tooth and nail to keep their personal
quality of life due to the wreckage cannabis farmers are imposing upon our
neighborhoods, schools, homes, and the very air we smell and breathe.
How
preposterous is their euphemistic rebranding of the numerous negative impacts of their pot farms on residents: “sustainable,”
“healthy,” “best practices.” Their actual practices: insensitive, steamrolling, polluting, delayed completion
of applications, operating under the radar, not reporting earnings, dodging taxation,
posing as victims at public meetings, and, of course, derogatively labeling anyone
who calls for balanced cannabis regulations.
Even
the stinky, skunky smell is now rebranded as “aromatic emissions” that smell
like “berries, citrus, or candy.” Does anyone really think that the repulsive odor
residents regularly complain about while driving through Carpinteria smells
like candy? Well, maybe if you’re driving high!