Greg and Marllus Gandrud, who are suing five cannabis greenhouse operations on Foothill Road in Carpinteria, have fled the neighborhood and sold their home after nearly three years of trying, off and on.
The stench of pot would regularly hit them at dinnertime in their four-bedroom house at 1493 Chapparral Drive, Greg Gandrud said. But he believes it was the vapor system at Ever-Bloom Inc., directly behind the couple’s backyard, that was exacerbating Marllus’s asthma to the point where he had trouble breathing and was wheezing all the time.
Cannabis growers throughout the Carpinteria Valley use perforated pipes attached to the exterior walls of their greenhouses to release a nontoxic “curtain” of plant oils mixed with water into the air. These vapor systems are designed to neutralize the “skunky” smell of marijuana with a lemony or piney smell. Yet despite assurances from the system manufacturer that the emissions are harmless, some Carpinterians are convinced they are not.