From Greenstate.com
A major legal medical marijuana factory in Northern California has become the headquarters of the American Red Cross’ relief efforts for tens of thousands of displaced evacuees fleeing the state’s historic series of wildfires.
The 140-employee company CannaCraft in Santa Rosa is feeding and hosting 200 Red Cross staff for the next five weeks, said Kial Long, spokeswoman at the company. CannaCraft is providing 12,000 square-feet of office space to be used as the American Red Cross Regional Headquarters for Northern California fire relief.
Cannabis remains a federally banned controlled substance considered as dangerous as heroin. But eight states and Washington D.C. have legalized its over the counter use by adults 21 and over. Twenty-nine states have medical cannabis laws. Some 61 percent of U.S. voters support cannabis legalization and 91 percent support medical access to the pain-relieving botanical drug.
Hosting the Red Cross came out of company discussions about ways to help. After surveying available space and equipment, CannaCraft leaders reached out to the Red Cross and offered office space. The Red Cross sent a project leader over to evaluate the space.
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Care By Design and AbsoluteXtracts provide $20,000 of free medicine to local patients affected by fires in California.
The huge underground cannabis economy was woven into the commercial fabric of California long before the 2016 passage of Proposition 64, which legalized marijuana for adult use. Transforming a shadowy, multibillion-dollar industry into a heavily taxed and regulated structure presents unique and enormous challenges. Who will gain and who will lose under the new regime? Will the expected financial dividend from legalization be broadly distributed throughout the Golden State?
