By ISABELLA VANDERHEIDEN | ivanderheiden@times-standard.com | Times-Standard

Photo Caption: A new documentary, “Trim: Women in Cannabis” takes a look at the shift to legalization in California from 2007 through 2021 through the eyes of women in the industry. (Cara Cordoni/Contributed)

A new documentary, “Trim: Women in Cannabis,” takes its viewers on a visual journey through the lives of more than 200 women working in Northern California’s cannabis industry. The film highlights the strength and resiliency of a mosaic of women in the industry, from farmers and dispensary owners to entrepreneurs and scientists.

“The film is a gritty and an intimate portrayal of the excitement and anxiety that we felt when regulation was being written and implemented,” said Sunshine Cereceda, founder of Sunboldt Grown in Southern Humboldt County. “We knew our way of life was about to change.”

“Trim” is the second installment of a five-part documentary series, “The Cannabis Chronicles 2007-2022” by writer-director Adam Ross. Part one, the 2010 documentary “Cash Crop,” focused on the production of cannabis in the Emerald Triangle and the crop’s economic impact on California and the United States.

“‘Cash Crop’ was shot before legalization and was shot over two years, traveling from Southern to Northern California, slipping into hidden indoor and outdoor cultivations, speaking primarily with men without showing their faces to protect them,” said Cara Cordoni, an anchor on the Cannabis Cooperative Economics Group who is also featured in the new documentary. “‘Cash Crop’ chronicles an earlier time, allowing outsiders a sneak peek into the ‘outlaw,‘ compassion and medicine-focused lifestyles of underground cultivators of California.”

“Trim” shifts the focus to women within the industry.

“Women have been the hearts and hands of the cannabis community for decades. As our larger overall culture is evolving to be less misogynistic and patriarchal, and as legalization is shining more light on cannabis cultivation, women are naturally going to show up as leaders and be highlighted by those watching from the sidelines,” Cordoni said. “Sadly, since legalization, women ownership and leadership is decreasing, which is noted in the film. I think that being underground actually allowed women to flourish and in some ways, coming into the mainstream is also causing there to be a shift away from women.”

Recognizing and uplifting women in the industry will inherently uplift the community as a whole, she added.

“Women have been the silent workers in the home, in the garden, in the kitchen (making food and medicine), so shining a light on the work that has been taken for granted in our culture has the positive impact of catching up with what has long been happening,” Cordoni said. “This is not new, it’s just new that we are looking at women’s roles in this industry.”

The upcoming screenings of “Trim” are being hosted by the Humboldt Grace Fire Recovery Project, the Ink People Center for the Arts, and Synapsis. Proceeds from the screenings will be donated to the Humboldt Grace Fire Recovery Project, an organization offering a helping hand to individuals and families impacted by wildfires in the Emerald Triangle.

“I lost my home to California wildfires in 2018, so I personally understand the hardship and support needed to rebuild,” Ross said in a prepared statement.

Cordoni said each screening will serve “as its own community event” with a Q&A session and a drawing following the film.

“This is important to me as the film is a conversation starter, an opportunity to explore, discuss, debate questions and issues raised in the film,” she said. “I am passionate about sharing this screening locally and then rolling out throughout California as I believe this film is a great tool to educate consumers and retailers about the value of organic, outdoor, Emerald Triangle cannabis. The ultimate goal is to increase demand, price, and sales to support small legacy farmers.” “Trim: Women in Cannabis” will be shown at the Minor Theatre in Arcata on Jan. 29 and Jan. 30. A full schedule for the screenings can be found at humboldtgrace.org/trim-women-in-cannabis.

By CHRISTINE RICCIARDI | cricciardi@denverpost.com | The Denver Post

When you’re looking for a wine expert, you call a sommelier. When you’re looking for a beer expert, you call a cicerone. But who do you call when looking for a cannabis expert? (Hint: It’s not your “guy.”)

Enter Ganjier (pronounced gone-je-ay), a first-of-its-kind certification program that turns enthusiasts and industry professionals into marijuana masters. Launched in 2020, the program aims to expand education about the long-prohibited substance and facilitate a broader appreciation of craft cannabis in the process.

Managing director Derek Gilman said there’s a lack of understanding about — and therefore a lack of appreciation for — quality cannabis since the legal market was flooded with products. Dispensaries often price weed based on how much tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, is in it, he said, which does a disservice to both the products and consumers.

“My personal passion is cannabis connoisseurship. I’m really into the tools, the techniques, you know, elevating the enjoyment of your experience with cannabis. For me, it’s no different than people who enjoy a fine wine or a fine coffee or a fine chocolate,” Gilman said. “Those epicurean industries I mentioned — alcohol, chocolate, coffee — they don’t measure quality based off of the alcohol content or the caffeine content. It’s the aroma, the flavor, the experience.”

In September, 36 people received certifications following the inaugural Ganjier training. Enrollment is now open for the next session, meaning you, too, can graduate from casual enthusiast to bonafide weed snob.

How it works

The Ganjier program includes a mix of self-guided online courses and in-person training before enrollees complete a written test and two oral exams. The curriculum extensively covers all aspects of marijuana, including the history and science of the plant, the various ways it’s grown and processed, and modern consumption methods, among other topics.

Like the sommelier and cicerone programs, customer service and sensory analysis are essential to the curriculum. Service training focuses on how cannabis professionals can help each consumer find the appropriate product for their liking and level of experience.

When it comes to sensory analysis, aspiring Ganjiers will learn how to properly taste flower and concentrates by studying terpenes and breaking down other elements that affect flavor and aroma. Students also learn how to evaluate the quality of buds by looking at trichome structure and learning to identify contaminants such as mold or mildew.

Each program registrant receives a kit with terpene inhalers and flashcards, and a professional-grade jeweler’s lens to aid in home study, as well as access to a proprietary app that facilitates evaluation. (For those familiar with the Beer Judge Certification Program, the app is similar to a beer scoresheet.)

“You can’t assess cannabis without actually consuming it,” Gilman said. “Similar to the sommelier, [students] learn the techniques, but then they go home and practice.”

After the self-guided online classes, Ganjier participants register to attend a two-day intensive in the Emerald Triangle, California’s most famous cannabis cultivation area, where they’ll tour a marijuana farm, learn more about the customer service guidelines, and practice sensory analysis techniques in real-time with a teacher.

After that, it’s time for exams. Testing is comprised of a written knowledge assessment, a role-playing assessment that focuses on cannabis customer service, and a blind tasting assessment.

While these are all valuable skills, the certification itself is not essential to landing a job in the cannabis industry, according to Kelsea Appelbaum, vice president of partnerships for cannabis recruiting firm Vangst. And just because an applicant has the certification does not guarantee they’ll land a job, at least not yet.

“It’s the type of program that’s getting its footing right now, and we’re trying to figure out if this is the type of certification or process that’s actually going to add value,” she said.

Part of the reason is that because marijuana is regulated at the state level, markets vary widely across the country. The same strain of cannabis grown in California may be vastly different from its counterpart grown in New York because of how it’s grown and the climate, she said, which presents a challenge in analysis.

Appelbaum has never heard of a company requiring such a certification of job applicants, whether they be budtenders or in the C suite. Still, cannabis is a nascent industry that’s guaranteed to evolve as legalization spreads, she said.

“Especially as we push to federal legalization, that could change,” Appelbaum said, “but we’re at a point where there’s too much change between one market and another to standardize education.”

If the knowledge from courses such as the Ganjier program provides applicants with the confidence to talk about cannabis, she believes it’s worth pursuing. In fact, Appelbaum said she might register to get a feel for the program and its potential.

Gilman said most of the people in the initial class of graduates are already in the weed industry, but that the Ganjier certification is open to those looking to get into the industry as well. He hopes anyone with an interest in bettering the quality of products on the market will get involved. “The market has been flooded with commercial, mid-grade cannabis from these large producers with these huge commercial greenhouses or these large industrial indoor grows. It’s strangling the small farmer,” Gilman said. “Without a market that understands quality and without a market that values quality, there’s not going to be a market for craft cannabis much longer.”

“That’s been my personal mission to save the craft farmer,” he added. “Because if they go away, then we’re all going to be stuck with mids and that won’t be any fun for anybody.” Enrollment in the Ganjier certification program costs $2,997. Those looking to break up the cost can pay $699 upfront for the online courses and an additional $2,697 when they’re ready to book in-person training. Visit ganjier.com for more information.

The legalization of cannabis for recreational use this year has brought new consumers into the fold of the multibillion-dollar retail marketplace in California — but not all are looking to get high.

In fact, the easing of the stigma over cannabis has caused a surge this year of people using the plant for health and wellness reasons, even though medical marijuana has been legal in the Golden State for more than 20 years, industry officials said.

The newer users range from women looking to ease the nausea from chemotherapy and treatments for breast cancer — a disease which cannabis advocates say the plant appears to be uniquely suited for — to lawyers looking to reduce stress after a difficult workweek.

To accommodate the heightened interest from women with breast cancer, Raea Campbell of Mendocino is working to grow sales of her line of cannabis-based oils designed for breast massage. Campbell developed the homemade product, Bosm Wellness, a few years ago as her mother, Linda, went through breast cancer and found that the extracts from the plant helped her get through the disease with limited side effects.

Campbell had a limited production run in 2017, which she said was encouraging.

“It was overwhelming … I couldn’t keep up with demand,” she said. “It was a small-scale thing. I didn’t have a lot of funding to scale up.”

She is now searching for a company that can make and distribute her line, given new regulations that went into effect this year, particularly establishing higher standards for quality control tests.

“It’s part of inspiring a healthy breast lifestyle,” Campbell said.

The North Coast stands at the center of such activity, in large part being in the heart of the Emerald Triangle counties of Mendocino, Humboldt and Trinity that historically have been the most prized growing region for cannabis. That means the local region is teeming with growers, manufacturers, medical professionals and retailers who are catering to the demands of customers looking for additional relief that is not provided by traditional medical practitioners.

“The frequency of these patients for cancer has just blossomed in the recent years,” said Jeff Hergenrather, a Sebastopol doctor who has provided recommendations to patients for cannabis treatments for almost 20 years. About a third of his patients have cancer, including breast cancer patients.

When Hergenrather started providing recommendations, almost all of his patients were already cannabis users. Today, more than half of his clientele have not tried marijuana before they visit him.

“I am busy. It’s a new era,” he said.

The sector, however, is still limited by restrictions in federal law, where the possession of cannabis is illegal with the narrow exception of a few research settings. Marijuana remains listed as a so-called Schedule 1 drug — the most severe category — by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. There is “no currently accepted medical use and a high potential for abuse” with such drugs, according to the agency.

Yet the tide is turning for a plant the has been used for thousands of years to treat medical conditions. Thirty-one states and the District of Columbia have legalized medical marijuana. Last year, the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine issued a report that surveyed research on the health effect of cannabis, including more than 10,000 scientific abstracts.

© 2018 The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, Calif.). Visit The Press Democrat at www.pressdemocrat.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

A New Hampshire man has been found guilty of beating to death with a baseball bat a fellow pot grower at a remote Mendocino County property where they were both paid laborers.

Joshua Ruoff, 32, will be sentenced Friday for first-degree murder in the bludgeoning death of Timothy Sweeting, 27, of Rohnert Park, Mendocino County District Attorney officials said. Ruoff faces 26 years to life in state prison and will be sentenced by Judge John Behnke.

Sweeting was killed May 18, 2016, at a property along the Charlie Hurt Highway in Covelo in the remote Round Valley.

Ruoff and Sweeting attended the same New Hampshire high school, and it was connections from that state that brought both men to a property owned by a New Hampshire family to work alongside a group of itinerant marijuana laborers, Mendocino County sheriff’s officials said.

But the men did not get along, and Ruoff had complained about Sweeting, claiming he was lazy, messy and didn’t take proper care of his dog, according to a witness, fellow laborer Tyler Marschok, who testified in the trial.

The night of the attack, Ruoff was agitated after drinking about 12 beers, and woke Sweeting, who was asleep on a couch. Marschok testified he could hear the thuds from Ruoff beating Sweeting with a bat. Marschok claimed he begged Ruoff to stop and that Sweeting never stood up or fought back, only raised his arms in an attempt to protect his face and head.

Marschok said he feared for his life and fled, and he last saw Sweeting bloodied on the ground.

He reported the beating the next morning from Grass Valley. Sheriff’s deputies found a bloody scene but no body or suspect.

Ruoff had fled Covelo in a rented U-haul, and detectives arrested him five days later in New Hampshire.

Sweeting’s body was found about two weeks later in a shallow grave at the property.

A Mendocino County jury returned the guilty verdict June 29 after a 10-day trial.

Sweeting grew up in the Finger Lakes area in central New York and also lived in New Hampshire. He moved with his mother to Sonoma County in 2013.

© 2018 The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa, Calif.). Visit The Press Democrat at www.pressdemocrat.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

For those people that don’t comply, the county is already beginning enhanced enforcement efforts through the help of state, local and satellite enforcement.

“We’re also working on expanding our efficiency with code enforcement and looking at bringing in some new specialized people to help us with some elements of that, so that’s pretty exciting to have a little more bandwidth there,” county Planning and Building Department Director John Ford said.

The county is now one month into its newly expanded cannabis industry, which allows for people to apply for cannabis permits for an expanded catalogue of business types including farms, processing, testing, tourism, bud-and-breakfasts and all-in-one microbusinesses, to name a few.

Prior to these new rules taking effect, nobody was able to submit an application for a cannabis business since Dec. 30, 2016, which was the cutoff date under the county’s first and more limited cannabis rules that took effect in February 2016.

Ford, who oversees the department’s cannabis division, said it has about 1,600 applications from the first round of permitting to sort through, with about 250 permits having been issued — mostly for cannabis farms.

The county received more than 2,300 cannabis business applications by the December 2016 deadline, about 1,500 of which were received two weeks before the deadline. More than 2,000 applications were incomplete.

“That’s the normal process for most other planning applications and it is a lesson learned from the last round that when we don’t get complete applications, it’s very hard to try to get them complete and to process them, basically,” Ford said.

So now anyone wanting to turn in application under the county’s new marijuana rules must first complete an application assistance training, with training sessions ongoing. All applications must be complete prior to them being submitted. No applications under the new cannabis rules have been turned in to the department yet, according to Ford.

Ford said they are also making internal changes.

“Basically, what we’re going to do is move away from the process we’ve been doing things and we’re going to go ahead and assign all active permits to planners,” Ford said. “There will be planners assigned to every project that has been deemed complete.”

Before this, permit applications went through an “assembly line” process in which they were handed off to different cannabis planners throughout the process.

Terra Carver, executive director of the cannabis trade organization Humboldt County Growers Alliance, said her organization does not have a position on the changes, but said the reaction from its members is varied. Carver said some members have raised concerns about latecomers to the legalized industry having an easier time getting through legalization when those who paved the way had to work through a brand new regulatory system.

“I have membership that would be upset because they feel they have paved the way and the road was hard to pave,” Carver said.

Other members are happy they signed up earlier, Carver said.

“Those who did sign up now are happy that they did because the transition is going to be much more difficult for those who sat on the fence,” Carver said.

With Humboldt County being the first county in the state to pass its own cannabis industry rules, Carver said it has allowed local producers and businesses to participate in the growing statewide market. With new state rules that took effect July 1 only allowing for pre-tested, pre-packaged products to be sold to customers, Carver said that there has been a “massive uptick in requests for compliant product from distributors” in Los Angeles, Sacramento, San Jose, San Diego and San Francisco.

“We’re starting to really see the supply chain connect and our compliant Humboldt product is in demand,” Carver said.

The county has also extended the expiration date for up to 600 temporary permits that were issued to local farmers last year. These temporary permits allowed pre-existing marijuana farmers — defined as farmers who had been operating prior to Jan. 1, 2016 — to receive temporary permits that limited them to growing what they were in 2016. The reason for this was to allow these farmers to apply for a state cannabis license and be able to operate once the statewide market opened at the start of 2018.

These temporary permits were set to expire on June 30, but that was pushed back to Sept. 30.

“Our hope and intention is to take action on all those applications by Sept. 30,” Ford said.

Carver said that most of their organization’s members are using temporary permits currently and “are sitting fairly pretty in the process right now.”

To address the thousands of illicit farms estimated to remain within the county, Ford said the department with the aid of the sheriff’s office and Department of Fish and Wildlife plan “to hit at least 500 this season,” with about 250 notices of violation having been sent out.

Farmers who do not comply face up to $10,000 per day fines, but can enter into compliance agreements with the county and only pay a one-day penalty for each violation. These plans would allow farmers to bring their farm back up to code within a certain time frame.

Ford previously said that these enforcement notices had resulted in many people working to come into the legal market, and he said last week that there is still a “fairly positive response.”

The county also has a contract in place that will give it access to frequently updated satellite images, which will be able to determine whether a farm has remained in compliance. Ford said there has been concerns about invasion of privacy and that the county now has access to super high-resolution images.

“It’s not that at all. The resolution is not better than what we already have,” Ford said. “The key is the frequency at which the images are collected. Five different images a year allows us to see what’s going on. That’s the key thing.”

At the same time, state and federal law enforcement officials have stated they will increase pressure against conspiracy crimes and cartels associated with the illicit cannabis market.

About $14 million of state budget went to creating five investigative teams in the state Attorney General’s Office to look into those crimes and marijuana mail deliveries.

Will Houston can be reached at 707-441-0504.