Concerned Carpinterians, a cannabis watchdog group that has sought to rein in the greenhouse “grows” that have proliferated in the Carpinteria Valley in recent years, sent a letter this week to the California State Auditor, requesting that Santa Barbara County be placed “at the top of the list” for investigations of potential corruption in local cannabis regulation and licensing.
The March 27 letter to Auditor Grant Parks comes on the heels of last week’s decision by the state Joint Legislative Audit Committee to authorize an audit of cannabis licensing and permit review practices in six California counties, still to be selected.
The letter was signed by Paul Ekstrom, chair of the Concerned Carpinterians steering committee; and committee members Anna Carrillo, Maureen Claffey, James Mannoia, Nanci Robertson, Carla Singer and Jill Stassinos. It states that the Santa Barbara County cannabis ordinance failed to limit the number of licenses per parcel, established an “‘honors system’ index of cannabis cultivators who simply claimed to be medical marijuana growers,” and allowed growers to self-report their gross earnings for purposes of taxation.
