California's Green Gold Rush 2016
I moved to the Sierra Nevada foothills recently and started working in a small rural grocery
store in October 2016 in the heart of the current California Green Gold Rush.
Before arriving there I anticipated the clientele would be retired middle aged people, with the women mostly doing
the grocery shopping. I sleepy, quiet, boring store, right? Wrong!
The first day of work all I heard were foreign accents and all I saw were young hippy looking people most with
dread locks. After observing this awhile, I started noting the countries I saw represented here. England, France,
Italy, New Zealand, Austrailia, Venezuala, etc.
What's going on here? I ask myself.
The few older retired people I see all grumble under their breath about the obnoxious newcomers.
Then I started to notice the money these new hippies were spending on groceries.....all buying organic
gourmet ingredients for their nightly dinner. One hippy spent $65 on ingredients for his evening meal.
Another bought $850. of meat, other's buy like they are stars on the Food Network.
All of the hippy's are very polite, patient, humble and generally a pleasure to serve.
The money is flying in here, I'm shocked and amazed.
I started asking people what was going on here and shared my shock and amazement.
Like in the California Gold Rush in the 1800's, this store is capitalizing on the Green Gold Rush
(the pot growers and workers). If you remember your history, the stores selling the shovels and
gold pans to the miners made all the money...
So, people in this area started explaining to me the current Green Gold Rush. When a wildfire
burned a good part of the landscape, the retiree's got burned out of their retirement homes, when the
landscape was left looking like a burnt mars.....most of them left. At the same time, growing
cannibius legally in California was happening, so a lot of the land of here was bought by those
wanting to cash in on the Green Gold. Following suit, the local county made it legal to grow
a certain amount of this product legally if the grower submitted a application and paid a hefty
fee, something like $5,000. for their license.
I was told most of the pot farms are illegal, meaning they don't have the proper permits.
So after seeing these hippy workers and getting to know them....most of them camp on the property
with no refrigeration thus they visit the store for lunch and then dinner.
So I can see the influx of workers for this industry, but why the international presence? How do these
young people in Italy, Austrailia, France, Canada...find out about this opportunity?
So from my perspective, I get to see a part of California history unfold, like it or not, I have a front row
seat.
I know from my experience working in grocery stores in the bad part of Oakland California what the
crime bosses/gangsters look like. I start to see them in the store. I see Biker gangs, mexican gangs,
phillipino gangs, chinese, japanese, crip's/bloods represented.......
I'm starting to get uneasy now.
I ask myself, am I at the center of an international drug cartel Green Gold Rush? I'm afraid I am.
It's easy money, BIG MONEY, like millions of dollars in CASH and the word is getting out.
I also notice 'ladies of the evening' appear, girls that are with groups of men that look drugged and
out of it (white slaves?)....and I'm starting to really get concerned....the fruit this type of business
creates is a wasteland of human flesh.
Friday, 11/11/16
Met two guys from London England,
yesterday met two girls from Quebec Canada, they spoke
broken English and very fluent French
Saturday 11/12/16
Met 3 people from Paris, France....I asked them how
they heard about this place...and they said friends....
They said they really like it here, up in the mountains.
Stay tuned for more reports!