California’s complicated cannabis licensing system leaves legacy farmers struggling

Some experienced cannabis cultivators like Mendocino County’s Brandon Wheeler are barely making ends meet since Prop 64 legalized recreational weed sales, along with a slew of burdensome licensing requirements. CalMatters’ Alexei Koseff discusses why certification was “nearly impossible” for Wheeler, and what this widespread experience means for CA’s cannabis economy.

Brandon Wheeler, 39, a third-generation farmer from Mendocino County whose grandparents moved to the area in the 1960s as homesteaders, is preparing for his first cannabis season without growing since 2002.

After starting simple with six plants in his mother’s vegetable garden when he was 18, Wheeler eventually expanded to a quarter-acre farm in Hopland and cultivated under the medical marijuana system that existed in California for two decades before recreational legalization.

But trying to become a licensed operator under Proposition 64 was an endless cycle of frustration, crashing into a local bureaucracy that made it nearly impossible to get certified. As prices dropped, leaving ever smaller profits after his farming expenses and county fees and state taxes, Wheeler spent two years debating whether he could afford to keep going.

“I’m working my ass off making $2 an hour and the state is taking $1.90,” Wheeler said. “I could make more money flipping burgers at McDonald’s, literally, and not have to deal with the bulls–t.”

Finally last summer, Wheeler took a job as a horticulturist for the city of Ukiah.

This article originally appeared in CalMatters. Read the whole thing here.

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