Hidden in Plain Sight: Cannabis Cultivation in the Emerald Triangle

Abstract

Turkey bags are one of the many subcultural signs that mark the presence of the cannabis industry in Humboldt County, California. Since the 1996 passage of Proposition 215 and the pseudo-legalization of medical cannabis, Humboldt's leading agricultural product has occupied a legal and cultural gray area. The medical cannabis industry, state and county officials, and law enforcement agencies maintain a fragile peace. Historically, the federal government disrupted this truce when, flexing its authority, it raided local medical cannabis dispensaries (Chapkis 2008) and seized medical cannabis grower records (Mozingo 2013), among other actions. Until California voters first considered legalizing recreational cannabis in 2010, the stigma and legal ambiguity of cannabis prevented fully open conversations and planning between users, growers, public officials, and businesses that participated in and benefited from the industry. In the intervening years leading up to the 2016 passage of Proposition 64, variously positioned players constructed a coded system of signs that now have meaning to even those not directly involved in the industry.