It’s been nearly four years since the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors rolled out the red carpet for the cannabis greenhouse industry in the Carpinteria Valley, and still the community is plagued with the “skunky” smell of pot.
It greets people when they open their front doors, closet doors, car doors, and washing machines. It wakes them up at night. It lingers at schools, beaches, and freeway exits. Many say the pungent smell has caused them to suffer headaches, sore throats, nausea, and respiratory problems.
In recent years, as most of the valley’s cut-flower greenhouses converted to pot, mostly without zoning permits, two citizens’ groups — Concerned Carpinterians and the Santa Barbara Coalition for Responsible Cannabis — have pressed the County Board of Supervisors to rein in the cannabis industry, without much success. Last year, Concerned Carpinterians launched a campaign to unseat Supervisor Das Williams, whose district includes the valley; he won reelection handily.