Episode Transcript
[00:00:06] Speaker A: Welcome to your KMUD Local News. I'm your host and news director April Lewis and I'm glad to be here for a special 420 broadcast of our program. We'll start off with the rundown of today's top stories, followed by in depth reporting from our news team. Tonight, we'll hear from voices throughout the local cannabis industry on a variety of topics, including welcoming back our former news director Lauren Schmidt for a special interview with Johnny Casale of Huckleberry Hill Farms on the new Gondjasaurus Rex documentary that was released especially for the 420 holiday. It's called 4 times 20 quick hits and is now streaming on Hulu. Later in the broadcast, Gabriel Zucker has an interview with Cal Poly Humboldt cannabis Studies lecturer Daniel Marr covering agricultural practices that that could reduce costs for Emerald Triangle growers. We'll also hear from Daniel Mintz on Black Humboldt's business development efforts. But first, a quick rundown of today's top headlines. This is CAMUD News.
Starting off in national news, Trump's Ceasefire with Iran did not go to plan President Trump informed Bloomberg News on Monday that he is unlikely to renew the ceasefire agreement. The ceasefire broke down in earnest on Sunday when American forces fired upon and boarded an Iranian vessel, the MV Toska. The Tosca is a container ship and not a known Iranian military vessel, although it was subject to previous Iranian sanctions by the United States. According to President Trump and others, the vessel was worn several times over a six hour period before being fired upon and eventually boarded. Whether US Forces will actually seize any cargo is unknown at this time. Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araki stated that US Actions were a sign of bad tensions and a lack of seriousness in diplomacy. We'll keep you updated throughout the week as this situation continues. Please keep in mind the story is constantly changing and we will continue to do our best to bring up to date facts about the war in Iran to you. Oil prices unfortunately spiked due to these recent developments. The Brent Crude Index was up over 4% to around $94 per barrel as of press time. It in local news on Sunday, April 19 at approximately 4:22pm Officers from the University Police Department at Cal Poly Humboldt responded to a report of a possible dispute involving a man and a Cal Poly Humboldt student who were associated with a dark colored Mercedes on St. Louis Road in Arcata. The situation is being investigated as an attempted kidnapping. While en route to the victim's residence hall, the suspect abruptly turned the vehicle around and began driving at a high rate of speed. Fearing for their safety, the victim attempted to exit the moving vehicle. The suspect grabbed the back of the victim's shirt and ordered the victim back into the car. After a brief struggle, the victim managed to escape by falling out of the moving vehicle and then fled on foot. The suspect pursued the victim on foot until officers arrived and intervened. The suspect, 53 year old Michael Nielsen of Arcata, was arrested at the scene and transported to the Humboldt County Correctional Facility where he was booked on charges of attempted kidnapping, false imprisonment and disorderly conduct. And now to our main stories. They're the through line of a new 4:20 Hulu documentary produced by celebrity comedian Jimmy Kimmel, highlighting Southern Humboldt's fight against the war on drugs through a lighthearted yet deeply rooted form of protest art.
[00:03:42] Speaker B: Lauren Schmidt reports April 20 once an underground holiday now widely celebrated, sets the stage for a new project bringing together comedians and filmmakers to tell the story of cannabis and the communities built around it. The series explores the history of the plant, its culture and the people who've worked to normalize its use, even as the US Government at times responded with aggressive enforcement against peaceful communities.
The anthology is made up of four 20 minute documentaries, each offering a snapshot of cannabis history, culture and resistance.
It's titled 420 Quick Hits.
[00:04:27] Speaker C: Gotta have a Weed Pun.
[00:04:29] Speaker B: That was David Beaninstock, cannabis journalist and consulting producer on the new Hulu original series.
He says the documentaries highlight both well known figures and their lesser known stories.
[00:04:43] Speaker C: One is about the founder of High Times magazine, Tom Frassad, who was a political radical, a publishing visionary, a weed smuggler and a lot more. And you know that story.
Everybody sort of knows High Times, but not too many people know the story of the founder, in part due to his big time smuggling runs. He kept a very low profile while running High Times.
[00:05:13] Speaker B: The other quick hits include a behind the scenes look at the making of Harold and Kumar, a movie that broke the mold as a mainstream comedy center on cannabis, released at a time when weed was widely illegal and featured two Asian American leads. A first for Hollywood.
Another episode explores how glassblowers in Eugene, Oregon turned their craft into protest and as a result a federal crackdown followed.
But it's the campaign against marijuana planting known as camp and its impact on the southern Humboldt community that takes center stage in episode three, which tells the
[00:05:56] Speaker C: tale of a low budget stoner monster movie made by southern Humboldt locals during the middle of the camp raids on cannabis growers. This again is the government sending helicopters and armed convoys against peaceful back to the land hippie weed growers and among many ways that they Pushed back against this was producing this film, Ganjisaurus Rex. 40 year anniversary of the film, it has become a cult classic. And we're really showing how this was, you know, sort of a goofy comedy, but also a very serious piece of protest art that showed people what was going on in this almost surreal event in the war on drugs.
[00:06:46] Speaker B: While the other documentaries in quick hits feature well known figures synonymous with cannabis culture, one stands apart. Ganja Saurus Rex, a unique homegrown hero.
[00:07:00] Speaker C: It's about a whole community of people and it's about as close to the roots, if you'll allow a weed pun of the culture, you know, this act of civil disobedience in growing this plant. And it's about a group of people who believe in cannabis, but also believe in a whole way of life that was wrapped up in the back to the land movement. And I think that looking back 40 years of what that community stood for and how they backed up that belief with action is going to be really inspiring to people now.
You know, the idea that the government is using undue, unjust, unconstitutional methods to bring militaristic force against a group of peaceful people who at worst are growing a beneficial and beautiful plant, I think that's going to resonate with people looking at the world now. And they can find inspiration in this peaceful campaign to expose what the government was doing, to do it through art and humor and also to change these laws in a way that starts to dismantle this system of oppression.
[00:08:29] Speaker B: The episode stands out for its focus on community with shots of familiar scenes. Cannabis drying inside Humboldt homes, local youth gathering at the Redwood Playhouse, jam packed celebrations at the Metill and even inside the studios of kmud.
[00:08:48] Speaker C: The number of times I said it's not gonna be Murder Mountain.
And we made very good on that, on that promise.
[00:08:57] Speaker B: The Legend of Ganjisaurus Rex also features familiar faces like Joanie Rose, Al Ciraolo and andy Barnett.
[00:09:06] Speaker D: Almost 40 years ago, we made a movie. Every once in a while somebody will say to me, oh, you were in that movie.
And I have realized that it's a bit classic because it just won't die.
Oh my God, that's an embarrassing thing.
[00:09:32] Speaker E: When I'd go to YouTube and I put in Ganjisaurus, I'd see like little titles, like the worst movie they've ever made.
When we were first doing it, we did not think it was funny. Everybody in the now it's kind of like, kind of like a cult movie. The. The kind they say, it's so bad, it's Good. Just trust me. This seed is a genetic miracle. We're talking about a plant that's going to be as big as a redwood tree.
[00:09:59] Speaker F: Our friend Tyrannosaurus herbivorous Gongosaurus rex was attracted to these.
[00:10:12] Speaker B: The last voice you heard was Ganjasaurus rex herself.
As the host of the podcast Greatest Moments in Weed History, David Bienenstock has explored and elevated many of the undertold and often unknown stories in cannabis history.
He explains how and why Ganjasaurus rex made the cut.
[00:10:34] Speaker C: This community really banded together in some amazing ways through making this film Gangesaurus Rex, an all volunteer effort, and also the history of kmud. Radio itself was in part a reaction to these camp raids and creating a way to bring the community together, to bring the community together to broadcast literally how these raids were happening in real time so people would have a chance to keep their battery powered radio with them when they were out in the cut to document the civil rights abuses of camp in a way that really led to very positive changes, not just in southern Humboldt, but throughout California and ultimately throughout the world.
[00:11:28] Speaker B: That shift is reflected in the histories of many people in southern Humboldt, where families were once harassed from the sky and on the ground for cultivating a plant that is now legal.
At the time, cannabis cultivation carried harsh penalties, including mandatory minimum sentences.
One legacy cultivator, Johnny Casale of Huckleberry Hill Farms, was sentenced to 10 years in 1992.
Now one of the first licensed cultivators in the county and the state, he grows award winning cannabis from his mother's strains.
Casale was among the first farmers to connect with David Bean and Stock and a group of cannabis conscious comedians working to raise awareness about the struggles facing southern Humboldt Farms.
[00:12:17] Speaker G: Yeah, you know, it was, it was a film that was created early on in my childhood. And shout out to Al.
I'm sure he's looking down and really excited to see how this comes about and very proud of David being in stock for helping tell this story. You know, it was a big part of our childhood and I've watched it multiple different times and I still watch it. And when it was shown at the meteal, I watched it again because it's just a big part of our childhood. A lot of the characters and stuff reminded us of our own families and, you know, it just, it means a lot. There was many times in the movie, you know, when the helicopter shows up that, you know, you get goosebumps and you just, you reflect back to the days because no matter how much I can share with a person what it was like to grow up in southern Humboldt during the war on drugs and running from helicopters and growing in trees and growing underneath trees and worried about having convoys pull up in your driveway every single day.
It really doesn't do it justice. But that movie really helps tell a story that was a big part of all of our lives back then.
[00:13:32] Speaker B: And the story of Southern Humboldt is part of the larger through line of the new 420 quick hit series Freedom and Liberty.
[00:13:42] Speaker C: About standing up for your rights and about building community around being marginalized, around being pushed by the authoritarian government into a corner and making that corner something beautiful and building community there.
[00:14:04] Speaker B: While many of the places featured in Ganjisaurus Rex still remain, the town looks very different, with shuttered businesses, fallowed farms, and the absence of seasonal workers.
Even people who never grew cannabis or were outright against it or feeling the ripple effects of legalization.
And while many say the Humboldt brand and its history may be the path forward to educate consumers, Beaninstock says this isn't the last time the community will hear from him saying that the legend of Ganjisaurus Rex will continue.
[00:14:41] Speaker C: For people of southern Humboldt, the biggest message I would have is thank you over so many years for welcoming me personally into that community, for allowing us to tell this story, for participating in the documentary. We had a screening as part of the documentary.
We filled the Mattel center with people. It was a really beautiful moment. And my other message would be you represent and are something extremely special in cannabis history and we can build on that to create a cannabis future for Southern Humboldt that can be based on love and respect for the legacy of cannabis there. Nothing would make me happier than to continue to grow the cult classic film of Ganjisaurus Rex and use it as a way to shine a beautiful light on this community. Just don't be discouraged by all of the headwinds right now.
Understand that what is beautiful about this community is lasting and will outlast this and that brighter days are coming in the future. Keep the faith.
[00:16:00] Speaker B: In honor of today's holiday, you can sit back, roll up and light up your screen with the 4:20 quick hits produced by Jimmy Kimmel, now streaming on Hulu. For KMUD News, I'm Lauren Schmidt.
[00:16:25] Speaker A: Across the Emerald Triangle, cannabis farmers are confronting a simple reality. The practices that once worked aren't holding up against climate change, water scarcity and shifting markets. Ecologist Daniel Maher believes the industry will have to adapt, beginning with the soil beneath every farm. Gabriel Zucker reports.
[00:16:44] Speaker H: In the Emerald Triangle, growers are facing pressure from the legalization of Cannabis rising costs, shrinking margins, and a landscape that's growing increasingly vulnerable to drought and climate change. But for ecologist and Cal Poly Humboldt cannabis studies lecturer Daniel Marr, the solution starts beneath our feet in the soil.
[00:17:03] Speaker I: We like to stick to the mantra of ecological is economical. We find that if we are in line with the ecosystem services that nature provides itself, and we align our practices, agricultural practices, with that, then we find that the costs go down. Your labor is going to go up a little bit because it's going to take you more time to set up these systems and maintain these systems, but your overall cost for maintenance and for materials is going to go down markedly.
[00:17:33] Speaker H: He said. One of the simplest, most powerful tools available to cannabis farmers is increasing soil organic matter, a shift that can transform both environmental impact and farm economics.
[00:17:44] Speaker I: For example, just adding 5% soil organic matter to your soil is going to increase your nitrogen and your phosphorus availability, as well as your water holding capacity. Why would that matter? Well, plants need nitrogen and phosphorus, right? Especially for the vegetative and the flowering stages. So if you're retaining more of that and you're making more of that available, then you're buying or you're importing less of that.
[00:18:07] Speaker H: And in a region where flatland is scarce and water storage is difficult, soil health becomes a watershed issue too.
[00:18:14] Speaker I: Why would it be important? If an increase in soil organic matter is holding more water, well, then you're diverting less water. So that's better for our watersheds, economically speaking, because of a forbearance period. You need less storage. Storage is expensive, especially in upland watersheds. We don't have a lot of flat space. Flat space is at a premium, so you have to balance the flat space for your cultivation versus your required water storage. So if you're using less than you need less in storage, and then that also plays ecologically because then we're disturbing less land, less environment from the increase in the infrastructure.
[00:18:50] Speaker H: Mars says these practices ripple outward from farms, to ecosystems, to local economies, and eventually into policy.
[00:18:57] Speaker I: We would see benefits to our watersheds, but also benefits to our local economies. And then growing out from there. Then we can have these conversations with the regulators. Be like, these are the practices that are being implemented on these farms. We now have research and data that shows this is better for the environment. It's less harmful and less impactful. Can we now start adjusting policies to make them more equitable? Especially in our region where we have suffered greatly from the inequity of policies and regulations.
[00:19:29] Speaker H: But soil health isn't the only challenge. Mars says many of the pest and disease problems facing cannabis today are rooted in the industry's own practices.
[00:19:38] Speaker I: Most of the pests and diseases that we're seeing in cannabis are either directly or indirectly related practices.
[00:19:45] Speaker C: Right.
[00:19:46] Speaker I: We have a lack of genetic diversity within the genome, which, coupled with monocropping, is just inherently brings a plant's ability to combat pest and disease down.
[00:19:59] Speaker H: He points to overfeeding, over watering and the absence of living soils, conditions that create perfect environments for pathogens.
[00:20:06] Speaker I: And we're creating conditions that are perfectly conducive to pests and disease. And if we don't have the competition, whether it's predators or other like, you know, fungal communities in there to, like, balance the system out, then we start to see more of these problems manifesting themselves in cannabis.
[00:20:23] Speaker H: And when growers react quickly, especially under market pressure, the solutions can cause new problems.
[00:20:29] Speaker I: That reaction might force us to do things that we normally don't want to do.
[00:20:33] Speaker G: Right.
[00:20:33] Speaker I: Whether they be fungicides or pesticides, even natural ones.
[00:20:36] Speaker E: Right.
[00:20:37] Speaker I: We have to remember, like pesticides, we could use organic, natural pesticides, but they're really indiscriminate in their effects. So those effects could be harming beneficial insects. So we have to really, like, look at all of these pieces together and then if we look at that more long term, what does that mean for next season and the season after? Are we just continuing to repeat this process over and over again for more?
[00:21:00] Speaker H: The long term fix is clear.
[00:21:02] Speaker I: If we start early and work often with these types of regenerative practices, then it's really going to help folks a lot.
[00:21:08] Speaker H: But environmental practices don't exist in isolation. They're tied to markets, storytelling, and who gets access to agricultural support.
[00:21:17] Speaker I: I'm not an economist, but I am an ecologist, and both of those go hand in hand. So I feel like the more we diversify ecologically and I'm speaking to like, agriculturally speaking, right. Like with living soils, or even diversify with the varieties of plants that we're growing, then we're going to have less of these pressures from pests and diseases. Right. So we'll have more product that's of high quality going to market.
[00:21:46] Speaker H: But getting that product to market and telling the story behind it requires more than good farming.
[00:21:51] Speaker I: So this is where we need to start leveraging folks who aren't cultivators but can help us with telling that story. Right. Changing the narrative for the larger markets.
[00:22:02] Speaker H: And equity, he says, has to be built into every layer of the industry, from policy to market, access to basic agricultural support.
[00:22:09] Speaker I: We have to have equity embedded in all layers of the business. And this isn't just policies and regulations, but this is also access to markets. And this for me is also access to resources. Cannabis is an agricultural product, and cannabis farmers don't have access to the resources that other ag does. And that's really unfortunate.
[00:22:32] Speaker H: In rural regions like Humboldt, where resources are already limited, that gap hits even harder.
[00:22:37] Speaker I: This agricultural commodity is important to our communities, especially our rural communities, where we have less resources across the board as it is, we have amazing resources in terms of clean air and water and green space, right? But in terms of economies, we don't have that.
[00:22:54] Speaker H: For Maar, the path forward is rooted in ecology, healthier soils, more diverse farms, fewer chemical inputs, and a regulatory system that recognizes cannabis as the agricultural commodity it is. And he believes when environment practices lead, economic resilience follows.
For KMUD News, this is Gabriel Zucker.
[00:23:14] Speaker A: Black Humboldt's economic development efforts include a business assistance program that's building on the success of its first year. Daniel Mintz reports.
[00:23:23] Speaker F: The Black Humboldt nonprofit group is into its second year of offering small business development assistance, connecting entrepreneurs and owners with the resources needed to advance their businesses. Black Humboldt's Business Cohorts program was described in an April 15 online presentation to the Community Economic Resilience Consortium. The program brings business owners together with those who give financial, technical and marketing assistance, providing what the Black Humboldt website describes as a space to learn, build and grow alongside others facing similar opportunities and challenges. The website says this kind of support is especially important for Black indigenous and people of color business owners who often navigate barriers that are layered and specific, including limited access to capital, smaller professional networks, lack of culturally relevant mentorship, and business education spaces that do not always reflect their lived realities. The business assistance program is into its second year and Mo Harper, Desire of Black Humboldt, described it.
[00:24:34] Speaker J: Basically, each cohort was one year long of meeting monthly to bimonthly and learning skills together and practicing them. And so the first year was really focused on getting your business plan together, figuring out your product, your audience, you know, who's your market.
Another initiative of the first cohort was to practice saving. And so there was like a grant component that North Edge also was a collaborator on for that first cohort where you save $100 a month every month and keep it in the bank and you know the grantor will match it for business products and resources. And so it seems daunting and we all had to wait a year. But it was so worth it. Like I got branded merchandise for my business, like I was like vending after that cohort and so it was really nice to have like sharp materials and things.
[00:25:33] Speaker F: With help from a North Coast Small Business Development center business liaison, about 15 businesses are being coached. Four months into the second year of the cohort program, which focuses on marketing.
Livia Love, of Black Humboldt owns the Bling Brow Bar body waxing studio in Eureka and has been operating it since 2018.
She said local businesses are still needing a lot of support following the COVID 19 pandemic years and the cohort program aims to provide it.
[00:26:05] Speaker K: Coming out of that, even though we're like six years post, I still find that a lot of small businesses and micro businesses are still needing a lot of support because we were running at full speed, not knowing how to do anything because we didn't have the support there. So for myself, being in the cohort last year and being in it this year has really helped me place myself in a space in Humboldt county where I'm actually thriving now. And especially this year with the marketing support that we have, I'm seeing a drastic difference even in just how people are engaging with my Instagram, with my website. People are coming into my services for the first time and saying, I really loved the way that you presented yourself online. You made me feel comfortable through the screen and I didn't even know you yet. And that right there, I think, is part of what Humboldt county is about.
[00:26:53] Speaker F: Harper Desir said, quote, I know our collaborators have been stunned with some of the testimony that comes from the lived experience specifically of black and brown small business owners. Alluding to himself as, quote, the poster boy of a middle aged cisgender white dude. Greg Foster of the Redwood Region Economic Development Commission, the meeting's host, asked if it's intimidating for black, indigenous and people of color business owners to seek financial and other forms of assistance. He asked, quote, are you opening a door that we can't or aren't necessarily able to open ourselves?
Love related her own experience and those of the business owners in the program.
[00:27:36] Speaker K: As a business owner in our community and having in being black and being queer, I found that I was hitting barriers to entry for having my business. And so I, I definitely spoke to that in the first cohort and talked to the other businesses about that and was getting the feedback that we, we as the businesses are, we do experience differences. And so having trusted community collaborators does help us get them to the right people.
Business on blast is one of the things that we host every year too, and that is one of the ones that we invite collab, and I think that getting y' all in the room with the businesses helps with that connection a lot.
[00:28:18] Speaker F: Love said last year's financial support enabled her to buy ADA accessible equipment for her business, and other business owners have started up secondary businesses, she added, quote it's just beautiful to see how many people really took what we had to offer and ran with it. And now we have all of these really rad businesses popping up in Humboldt. For KMUT News, this is Daniel Mintz.
[00:28:42] Speaker A: That's all for our special 420 broadcast. Thanks for listening. Thanks to our engineer and thanks to our reporters Gabriel Zucker, Daniel Mintz and our former director Lauren Schmidt. If you have story tips, you can give us a call at 707-923-2605 or send an email to newsamea.org I'd also like to remind folks before the end of our broadcast that our Spring Membership drive is still on until April 22. Please click the green donate button on kmud.org or call 707-923-391111. Your donations help keep our local news on the air, and we need your help. Redwood Community Radio is funded by Press Forward, the national movement to strengthen communities by reinvigorating local news. Learn more at PressForward News. Redwood Community KMD Radio acknowledges that its transmitter sites are located on the unceded territory of the Sikyon, Wailaki, Wiyat, Wilkat and Kato people. We honor ancestors past, present and emerging, and acknowledge the ongoing spiritual, cultural and physical connection that these tribes have to this region. Reporting for kmud, I'm April Lewis. Stay tuned in.
