Since [California Proposition] 215 passed in 1996 the price of outdoor marijuana has continued to drop, going for a thousand dollars a pound less than indoor.  I have seen the local economy contract and I felt it was time to talk about it openly, especially given the possibility that recreational use of marijuana may become legal this year, with the probable impact of further lowering the value.

It is clear that the lawmakers don’t understand the two distinct marijuana cultures, urban and rural, and that they have no idea how unstable the rural economies have become, or how flooded the market is.

The effects of the economic disaster facing Humboldt can be blunted by a pro-active effort on the County’s part.  Embrace the emerging legal marijuana economy, and trademark the County’s international reputation as the capital of the finest marijuana in the world.

— Anna Hamilton, 2010