California’s wildfires are having a bad impact on the marijuana industry in the Bay Area, with details from marijuana shop owners who state marijuana plants are cultivating next to some of the state wildfires especially the Rocky Fire close to Clear Lake.
Timothy Anderson, purchasing manager at Harborside Health Center, a marijuana shop in Oakland, stated one of the homes burned from the wildfires belonged to a marijuana cultivator who provides them with herbal medicine.
“I can’t remember [a fire] affecting our growers as much as this year,” Anderson told NBC Bay Area.
Anderson stated roughly a quarter of their cannabis comes from growers near Clear Lake, and the smoke from the fire is affecting various growers crops as well. Anderson assumes the decrease in supply will increase the prices for marijuana shops who buy from outdoor growers throughout the Bay Area.
“Unlike an apple or tomato, you can’t wash a cannabis plant off,” Anderson explained. “The sticky resin is going to grab onto any environmental grit or grime from the air.”
The buds from those crops potential could be harmful if you smoke it, he added, stating he would not buy any cannabis from a shop that smells like wildfire.
“It could potentially have some health hazards, especially for people with compromised immune systems,” Anderson added.
By late Wednesday Night, the Rocky Fire had destroyed more than 65,000 acres in a location 50 miles north of the Bay Area. Thousands of lighting strikes over the past several days have created small wildfires in the northern part of California.
