By Dennis Peron
I’ve been told that I should not fight the inevitable. That the polls say this or that and you just have to accept it. Nonsense. The Power of Small Change is enormous and having had a little something to do with the passing of Prop 215 some 20 years ago proves it. So let’s get started!
I want more gardens not less.
I want a return to agri-centric skill sets through farm to fork programs that bring cultivation into our communities.
I want Community Supported Agriculture, which usually means some subsidy or charity to support it, to be instead self supporting through Cannabis Supported Community Agriculture (CSCA).
I want cooperation with the state agencies to implement these new CSCA programs whereby we ALL get what we want.
I want security and transparent accountability in both directions. I want the state to reward those of us who meet our CSCA goals and play by the rules with annual 50% increases in crop size.
I want community spirit and awareness as to where our food and meds come from. I want to house the homeless in return for their willingness to work on our farms.
I want to provide jobs that cannot be lost to China.
I want to educate and inspire every single person who visits our farms.
I want what is morally right in reducing cannabis related sentences and expunging those records for those having convictions from what is now seen as acceptable practice.
I want renewed community spirit and a mending of the torn fabric we’ve become.
I want to reduce barriers to entry and make these opportunities available to anyone who qualifies regardless of race, culture, religion, political affiliation, or connection.
I want to repurpose abandoned or derelict properties for our farms.
I want our farms to be fun. Where people come because they want to reconnect. Where people come because they have purpose. Let there be music. Let there be family. Let there be community.
I want to keep money within these communities.
I want to inspire others to start business’s from the use of our crops. I want to innovate. I want to educate.
I want significant water and energy savings that employ responsible, sustainable cultivation techniques.
I want unfettered access to unprocessed non-gmo food and meds in our communities. I want to reduce disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and many other ailments we contend with as a direct result of all the processed food we eat.
I want to have a say in our destiny.
I want cannabis to take its rightful place in our history.
I want to make certain that we lay the groundwork not just for the now but for future generation’s access to these ideals.
I want our beautiful State of California to be the example of progressive CSCA reforms that others will actually look up to. I want change we can believe in. Change that we all participate in. The time has come. The time is now.
Passing AUMA eliminates the CSCA opportunities I envision as a starting point to real social change. And a CSCA model would still allow for large scale operations to enter into the market but unlike what has happened with the Walmarts taking over our communities and eliminating the Mom and Pops the small to medium CSCA Farm will be producing unique crops and product that make them a boutique option that many consumers would support simply because the large scale operation is not designed to be as diverse or can adjust to market trends as adroitly as the smaller scale CSCA business can.
To those of you who support AUMA and believe that these CSCA ideals I’ve described can somehow find a way to be integrated into the law that would be AUMA I say no. That is really not possible. CSCA expands the narrative well beyond what AUMA provides. If AUMA is passed we are asking for permission when instead we would have to ask for forgiveness.
There are numerous reasons that I and others have brought forth as to why we should vote NO on AUMA and any other bill that would attempt to consolidate the power of cannabis into the hands of a few. This post is meant to show what might be considered in place of it. As you watch the video link at the end of this post, whenever she says food add the word cannabis and imagine what this model becomes with a CSCA farm. And towards the end of the video she describes how the government eventually reacted to what they started. It’s really nothing short of awesome. The Power of Small Change. IMO this is worth fighting for. Regardless of what the polls say.
For further information on how we can go about making these CSCA farms a reality go to:
