Since receiving a state license in 2015, Sticky Budz has been operating a cannabis farm in unincorporated Yakima County, Washington, and selling flower, pre-rolls, topicals and other items statewide.
But now, owner Jamie Muffett is fighting for the right to continue running the business in its current location, as are several other cannabis producers that have been told to shut down this year by county officials.
Muffett says his agricultural location is compliant with state rules that require cannabis businesses to be at least 1,000 feet away from schools, playgrounds, parks or other areas where youth might congregate.
However, Yakima County commissioners say they’re just following the will of local voters. Although recreational cannabis was legalized in 2012 by a statewide vote on Initiative 502, 57.8% of Yakima County voters against the measure. This led commissioners to quickly ban commercial cannabis activities in unincorporated areas. Existing medical growers and dispensaries were initially allowed to continue, before being declared illegal when the state’s medical and recreational systems merged in 2016.
Sticky Budz owner Jamie Muffett has spent roughly $100,000 defending his business and the livelihoods of his 23 employees.
An advisory vote in 2017 affirmed that 58.9% of voters wanted the ban to continue, triggering the current shut-down actions. In 2018, the county sent cease-and-desist letters to more than 25 state-licensed cannabis businesses in unincorporated Yakima County.
But Muffett says the wording on the advisory ballot was confusing to the point where voters he knew told him they weren’t sure if voting “yes” meant continuing the ban or voting to approve marijuana. Also, it was on the ballot during an off year, with less than half the voter turnout of the 2012 election.
So while some cannabis producers have already relocated, closed their doors or been shut down by county action, Muffett is not ready for any of these options, partly because of the huge investment he’s made in infrastructure.
“They are basically forcing us out of the farming country into incorporated areas, the cities,” he says.
He and other growers have tried to work with the commissioners to keep operating, but Muffett says they were unable to reach any resolution. County officials have defended their actions, saying they have the support of the voters and that they’re complying with language in I-502 that allows counties to opt out of allowing cannabis enterprises.
Nonetheless, Muffett is putting up a fight. He hoped to take on the shutdown in a civil trial, but the commissioners requested a summary judgment. Muffett appealed earlier this year, a process which could drag out another nine to 12 months.
“These guys (commissioners) band together (and) put the vote together with no input from industry,” Muffett says. “There hasn’t been one public complaint and they are taking action against all of us.”
Pesticide-free flower produced by the fourth-generation farmers at Sticky Budz.
Muffett has already spent upwards of $100,000 to defend his case. Moving to a new location like a city would likely require paying an inflated price to lease a new facility. But he says Sticky Budz is a strong company that won’t give up. Muffett contends that Sticky Budz, which employs 23 people at its facility, is a benefit to the surrounding area, unlike nearby chemical plants “that burn up, blow up or leak, that are horrible for our environment,” and are located right in the middle of a community, he says.
“We’re an indoor/outdoor farmer in an agricultural area,” he says.
Muffett’s theory is that commissioners are more interested in the potential of hemp as a cash crop instead of marijuana. The 2018 Farm Bill legalized hemp cultivation at the federal level.
But the state Department of Agriculture requires that hemp not be planted within four miles of marijuana plants to avoid possible cross-contamination to either plant, potentially leaving recreational cannabis growers on the outside looking in.
“Big money wants hemp as opposed to cannabis,” Muffett says.
Linda Ball is a freelance journalist based in Washington state. In her 18 years as a journalist she has covered a wide variety of topics including environmental issues, city hall, arts and entertainment, education, human interest stories and now the rapidly changing cannabis industry. This article was originally published in Evercannabis.