There is a lot of hand-wringing these days about Washington’s lack of ethics, integrity and transparency. All true.
But it has been rivaled by the shady political machinations right here in Santa Barbara when it comes to cannabis.
Sadly, the Board of Supervisors’ response to the withering Grand Jury report on their Cannabis Ordinance is shamelessly inadequate and feeble.
Exhibit A was their use of an unprecedented two-man, Ad Hoc Committee as an end run around land use regulations and the Brown Act — with the bare minimum of public participation, except cannabis lobbyists. Then to brag about the tax dollars from an industry that they granted every known regulatory break, exception and waiver known to man — not given to any other industry in the county — well, that’s rich. Hard to do, but on the weed issue, Santa Barbara’s supes out-trumped Trump.
The supes know it, the media knows it, the Grand Jury knows it, the pot growers know it, and the U.S. Attorney knows it.
It’s time for the supes to stop the charade, own up to the mess they made, stop attacking the Grand Jurors, reporters, much less their own constituents. It’s time to stop wasting county funds on legal fees for litigation that promises to go on for years.
And it’s time for the supes to sit down with constituents, find common ground, and amend the Cannabis Ordinance.