In the late spring of 2015, Gavin Newsom traveled north to Humboldt County to rally support for legalizing cannabis. Pot farmers in the historic cannabis growing region were deeply skeptical of legalization, fearing that big corporations would wipe out their small family farms. Newsom, then a lieutenant governor, came with both a warning and a promise. He confirmed that big money interests were already lobbying in Sacramento, but Newsom said he would stand in their way.
“With respect,” Newsom told a standing-room-only crowd at a Garberville theater, according to the North Coast Journal, “they’re writing a lot of you guys out and we cannot let that happen.”
The audience appeared wooed by the savvy politician, and proceeded to take selfies with the rising star. One cannabis advocate told the local newspaper that “I think when they said they’re here to defend small farms I think they meant it.”
Nearly 10 years later, cannabis is legal in California, Newsom got a promotion to governor, and small cannabis farms have been decimated. Legalization has shuttered thousands of pot farms across Northern California, destroying multi-generational cannabis businesses and leaving rural towns boarded up.
“California is strangling the golden goose right now,” said Jason Matthys, a cannabis breeder and activist in Mendocino County. “I have seen 99% of everyone exit the industry. And maybe that’s what they want? Maybe there are some fat cats that are whispering in the governor’s ear, ‘Let’s get these hippies out of here.’”