California farmers divided on legal pot

GARBERVILLE, Calif. -- Laura Costa's son and husband moved quickly with the pruning shears to harvest the family's fall marijuana crop, racing along with several workers to cut the plants and drop them in plastic bins ahead of an impending storm.

The rain could invite "bud rot," Costa said, "a big no-no."

The farm, hidden along a winding mountain road in a remote redwood forest, is just one of many illegal "grows" that make up Northern California's famous Emerald Triangle, a rural region that developed over decades into a marijuana-producing mecca at the intersection of Humboldt, Mendocino and Trinity counties.

California voters will decide Nov. 8 whether to legalize marijuana for recreational use -- an issue that has sown deep division here among longtime growers.

The Costa family and many other pot farmers have yearned for the legitimacy and respectability growers of legal crops enjoy.

But they also fear Proposition 64 will bring big changes, including costly regulations and taxes, lower prices and the risk corporate interests could put smaller operations out of business.

"It will end traditional marijuana farming like this," said Costa, 56, sitting in the middle of one of four 40-plant gardens, puffing on a glass pipe. "It will end our way of life."

That way of life is visible throughout the region. Four-wheel-drive vehicles often disappear down dirt roads to drop off workers and supplies. Indoor grows abound in business-park warehouses in Eureka, the region's largest city with a population of about 28,000, and in the garages of private homes in nearby affluent neighborhoods.

Marijuana is smoked as casually -- and frequently -- as cigarettes in many homes, and "strains" of weed are discussed and debated like wine or craft beer.

Young people from around the world flock here for work, many arriving without job offers. They hang out in Arcata's town square or along the main drag of Garberville, sitting on their camping gear, smoking weed and hoping a farmer picks them up for a job.

Police complain the seasonal nature of the farming means many job-seekers go without work, exacerbating homelessness. They also worry about the risk of people driving under the influence of marijuana.

Law-enforcement officials are urging voters to reject the measure, but it is leading in polls. Supporters have raised $23 million, compared with $1.6 million by opponents.

Northern California's marijuana industry has its roots in the mid-1980s, when the region became a quasi-military zone after then-president Ronald Reagan declared the war on drugs in 1982.

The next year, the Campaign Against Marijuana Planting -- or CAMP -- launched to wipe out illegal cannabis production in Northern California, where growers flocked because of its remoteness and temperate climate. The task force was composed of federal, state and local law-enforcement officials, who erected roadblocks and often conducted door-to-door searches.

U2 spy planes and satellite images were used to locate illegal farms. Black helicopters dropped camouflaged drug agents armed with automatic rifles into the fields to chop down the crop.

The region soon surpassed Thailand as the United States' top marijuana supplier, but the CAMP operation drove the industry deeper underground. Skittish farmers formed tightly knit circles that relied on trusted distributors to get their crop to dealers and, ultimately, consumers.

"We trusted one another and relied on handshakes," said Swami Chaitanya, 73, a longtime grower in remote Mendocino County, about an hour south of Costa's farm. "Yes, rip-offs occurred. But it was dealt with internally."

Chaitanya and his wife, Nikki Lastreto, 61, support Proposition 64. He said the 62-page ballot measure "is not perfect" but can be amended, and he rejects arguments California should wait for a more grower-friendly law.

"If we wait, we will fall behind," Chaitanya said.