PRESS RELEASE -- FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE SB COALITION FOR RESPONSIBLE CANNABIS SUES COUNTY OF SANTA BARBARA April 23, 2020 Santa Barbara, CA: Today, in Santa Barbara County Superior Court, the Santa Barbara Coalition for Responsible Cannabis (the “Coalition”) filed a multi-faceted lawsuit against the County of Santa Barbara and the Board of Supervisors. The lawsuit is based on the County’s recent decision to uphold the cannabis permit for Busy Bee Organics. It also follows on the heels of the Coalition’s neighborhood-focused class action suit filed against various Growers this spring. This lawsuit focuses squarely on the County’s flawed actions in creating the current cannabis ordinance and licensing program which has led to a massive proliferation of unpermitted cannabis grows throughout the County. It seeks to stop the County from issuing additional cannabis permits by challenging the adequacy of their environmental review pursuant to California’s Environmental Quality Act amongst other legal challenges. Even more troubling, this lawsuit comes on the heels of the Board of Supervisors’ 3-2 decision in favor of what would be one of the nation’s largest legal cannabis grows located in Buellton and surrounded by several well-established wineries. In that meeting Supervisors Hartmann and Adam both acknowledged that cannabis operations are not a panacea and should not continue to be universally approved. Further, the Coalition alleges that pursuant to long settled California law, the County had an affirmative duty to investigate and hold public hearings regarding any grower affidavits claiming that they were medical marijuana growers prior to January 16, 2016. Approximately 200 of these affidavits were filed, none were investigated, and now they form the basis for many of the State-issued permits to grow cannabis within the County. The litigation team is led by veteran litigator Robert Curtis of Foley Bezek Behle & Curtis, LLC, , as well as Santa Barbara Attorney Marc Chytilo, an Environmental law expert. Debra Eagle, Board Member of the Coalition, said: “This lawsuit is a last resort. Industrial scale cannabis operations in the Sta. Rita Hills AVA threaten our future. The Board has ignored these issues while violating several laws, so we have been forced into this litigation in order to bring these operations in line with State law and prevent cannabis growers from destroying Santa Barbara’s communities, tourism and wine economy. Respect and moderation is all we are asking for.” Attorney Robert Curtis, said: “The County has a duty under the law to vet each affidavit that was filed—it’s been 4 years, yet they refuse to do so.” Attorney Chytilo added: “The Board has continually ignored fundamental environmental principles in overriding 12 separate significant adverse environmental impacts. Without analyzing the impacts, the County cannot resolve the fundamental conflicts between these two interests. We need to find appropriate sites for cannabis cultivation where existing farms won’t be forced out. ” The Santa Barbara Coalition for Responsible Cannabis is a community-based advocacy and education organization whose objective is to promote sustainable communities. We work progressively for the health and wellbeing of residents, children, traditional agriculture and businesses of Santa Barbara County who have been negatively affected by large scale commercial cannabis cultivation. The Coalition is not a prohibitionist organization and encourages cooperative and neighbor-friendly cannabis businesses. ### Santa Barbara Coalition for Responsible Cannabis www.SBCountyCoalition.com PO Box 278, Santa Barbara, CA 93102 A California 501(c)(3) Non-Profit Organization
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