First of its kind research study to examine economic impact of Northern California’s cannabis industry

Link

Embed

Copy and paste this HTML code into your webpage to embed.

HUMBOLDT COUNTY, Calif. (KIEM) — The Humboldt Community Business Development Center, California Center for Rural Policy at Humboldt State University, and Sonoma State University are teaming up for a first of its kind economic impact study of Northern California’s cannabis industry.

The study is focused on the Emerald Triangle, Del Norte, and Sonoma Counties and will take a deep dive into the cannabis industry. Specifically, if there are any concerns about the regulatory environment and how legal cannabis firms made the switch. Researchers want to know how much of the supply chain from initial cultivation to retail is available in each county and if things can be done to help growers connect with more retail outlets.

Principal investigator and economics professor at Sonoma State, Robert Eyler, says they’re also looking at the possible implications of cannabis being legalized at the federal level.

“What are the potential market opportunities if in fact cannabis became nationalized with respect to either decriminalization and or legalization. California, at least in theory, should see itself as one of the top exporters to other states,” Eyler says.

The reason for doing the study? Other industries have a better understanding of the connections between initial production of a good to its final sale to a consumer. The cannabis industry hasn’t done that before. Grant funding from the California Bureau of Cannabis Control was also a big incentive.

“They want kind of a baseline to consider policy changes or continuations of policies that seem to be working or maybe need to morph a little bit to allow a little more competition or more incentive for businesses to become legal,” Eyler adds.

According to Eyler, the study will begin collecting data in 2021. Next steps include hiring students to help with the research and identifying data sources for the project.