100+ LGBTQIA+ Owned Cannabis Companies to Support Right Now

By Melissa Hutsell

Currently, the legal cannabis industry is worth more than $9 billion, according to Grand View Research. It’s only expected to grow, providing alternative forms of treatment, relief, and millions of jobs along the way. The emergence of this... read more

"SPARC began in 1998 as a trailblazer in medical cannabis, and today continues to originate and propagate many of the industry’s most rigorous quality-control practices."

"SPARC is committed to advancing the standards of how cannabis is cultivated, packaged and retailed industry-wide, and being a force for good in the neighborhoods and communities we call home."

Sonoma Planning Commission OKs dispensary use permit

By Braden Cartwright

The design of Sonoma’s first commercial storefront cannabis dispensary was hammered last week by members of the Sonoma Planning Commission, who said the renovations by dispensary operator Sparc would make the building look “quasi-industrial,”... read more

"...commissioners were impressed by the details of the operation, and they approved a use permit for the retail business..."

"I know the council is super motivated, on behalf of the city, of course, to get the doors open of the dispensary and get the tax revenues through and get the services we provide and the cannabis that the community has been waiting for."

Why the cannabis industry may be moving faster than expected into mainstream banking

By Mark Calvey

My report earlier this week that Oakland’s Harborside received a $12 million business loan from a bank smoked out another cannabis company eager to say that it, too, received a bank loan — back in summer of 2020. The significance of the... read more

"Sparc’s [Founder & CEO Erich] Pearson is among the pioneers of California’s legalized cannabis industry, having moved to California from Indiana in 1998 to grow cannabis, two years after Golden State voters legalized the drug for medicinal use. Pearson co-founded the San Francisco Cannabis Collective in 2001, which would later become Sparc, or the San Francisco Patient and Resource Center..."

Sonoma County commission to take up long-delayed rules for commercial cannabis farms

By Julie Johnson

Sonoma County is reconsidering its rules for cannabis cultivation with the goal of streamlining the approval process for growers and aligning the industry more closely with traditional agriculture. A central element of the county’s plan is to... read more

"Sonoma County needs to have a business-friendly environment. Sonoma County is known for direct-to-consumer sales, hospitality. It’s a destination. This is a perfect crop to do that with."

Cultivator Chris Hayes

California Dreaming

By Jonah Raskin

Chris Hayes was a Californian before he came to California, though he didn’t really know it. His 19th-century counterparts arrived from the four corners of the world to pan for gold. “I came for the San Francisco music scene,” he tells me on... read more

"Hayes has cultivated marijuana in more parts of Sonoma County than any other grower I‘ve ever met. He’s grown indoors and outdoors, in greenhouses and in natural sunlight, in the hills outside Healdsburg and in Santa Rosa, Occidental and Glen Ellen."

"You gotta take what Mother Nature gives you. That means using the sun, the air, the water and the ground itself."

SPARC cannabis project receives county OK

By Melissa Dowling

The Sonoma County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a project use permit for cannabis farming and cultivation on a portion of the former Gordenker Turkey Farms property in Glen Ellen during its Jan. 26 meeting. “This is the perfect... read more

"This is the perfect location for cannabis cultivation and processing"

"...the operation’s partners, including Erich Pearson and Sean Kelley, are not only 'organized,' 'clean,' and 'professional' farmers, but also good neighbors. Several [speakers during the January 26th hearing] recalled how the applicants helped rescue nearby homes when the Nuns Fire devastated the area—including the Gordenker ranch itself—in October 2017."

"I view our use permit as a first of many steps in Sonoma Valley. We hope to work with the local government to create public access on the property, in the form of a retail sales store, a dispensary for products that we grow, or maybe a farm stand. We’ve built a lake on the property. We’re looking forward to exploring the opportunity of glamping and on-site overnight access overnight access on the backside of the property. We’re looking forward to making a more of a hospitality centered experience around the farm"

City Council moves forward with pot dispensary

By Jason Walsh

Sonoma officials on Monday gave the green light for the city’s first-ever commercial cannabis business. The city council voted 4-0-1 at its Dec. 14 meeting to grant a conditional certificate to Santa Rosa-based Sparc, enabling the cannabis company... read more

"The city council voted 4-0-1 at its Dec. 14 meeting to grant a conditional certificate to Santa Rosa-based Sparc, enabling the cannabis company to potentially open its planned dispensary at 19315 Sonoma Highway in 2021."

"According to Sonoma Planning Director David Storer, the next step is for Sparc to apply to the Sonoma Planning Commission for a use permit for its Sonoma Highway location and, if it receives that, Sparc would then apply to the city manager for the commercial cannabis license."

Sonoma County cannabis growers concerned about smoke taint after wildfires

By Wayne Freedman

SONOMA COUNTY, Calif. (KGO) — Harvest time in Sonoma County. We’ve already heard about the grapes, and concerns about how smoke taint from fires will eliminate some vintages, but here’s something new. “That’s ash... read more

"The wine industry is flattening out. Sonoma County can use all the tourism it can get because of the fires. So, we're hoping to do that."