When legalized commercial cannabis cultivation arrived on the scene in Santa Barbara County, it did so with a loud scream and a shout; today, it’s become more of a subdued whimper.
In its first seven years, cannabis taxes generated on average $8.5 million a year for the County of Santa Barbara — that’s cultivation and retail sales. For the last fiscal year that just ended in June, cannabis operations yielded the county of Santa Barbara $5 million. This information, presented to the county supervisors this Tuesday, is a continuation of a long, slow downward slide.
Reflecting the boom-and-bust cycles typical of most “next best things,” cannabis producers quickly glutted the market — both in Santa Barbara and statewide — and the initial high prices cannabis commanded could no longer be sustained. That, coupled with the high cost of regulatory compliance, chased some out of the market, and in Carpinteria there are stories about greenhouse growers now reverting back to cut flowers…