Cannabis Growers Cover Cost of School Drug Counselor

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Santa Barbara's "CARP Growers" are at it again - helping out the community!

With the world of cannabis in a hustle and shuffle mode here in California with the newer recreational law that’s made Santa Barbara very well known across the Globe for huge cannabis grows that can smell up the place – once again this local group of growers who’ve formed a nonprofit is pitching in to make their community a great place to live. Earlier in the month, we reported on how CARP growers have taken the odor complaints very seriously and have initiated much more than ‘standards of practice’ that the cannabis industry has yet to self impose. But this time they’re making waves near their beautiful ocean grows that many of us love to see in covering the cost for the next 3 years to cover an on-campus full-time counselor – one that specializes in drug abuse. Who would have known it would be the growers with the smelly weed that step up to the plate for such a generous donation that will equate to nearly $200,000.00 over the following three years. This is the type of responsibility the cannabis industry needs to show – not just cleaning up the act of grows that may infringe upon the locale but as well putting some of those hard-earned funds into the future – our kids. We must face the music on cannabis legalization – our kids are exposed more than ever. Although most no longer find the fund in raiding a parents stash as it’s ‘legal now’, without proper education our kids are subject to much more than cannabis – and funding this position will ensure our future generations have a safe place to talk about the illicit substances that are fueling serious issues at schools including gangs and the violence that comes with them. Many would assume that the funding of this would only be to teach about cannabis – but the bottom line is the states budges it so minimized that positions of importance like this go unfunded and unversed. Thanks to this group of growers our kids have an opportunity to escape a future of drug abuse by having the right person on their campus.

The following was recently reported by Santa Barbara Business news:

“CARP Growers, a nonprofit cannabis farmers group in Carpinteria Valley, on Aug. 27 donated $63,000 for the next three years to pay for a full-time, on-campus counselor for Carpinteria Middle School students. Carpinteria Unified School District officials accepted the gift for the counselor position identified by district leaders as a top priority, according to a CARP news release.

“This funding opportunity really highlights what CARP, as a nonprofit, was built to do,” said Kyle Hardy, treasurer for CARP Growers board and president of Cresco California, a cannabis company that operates a farm in Carpinteria Valley. “Our team in Carpinteria includes numerous parents of students at Carpinteria Middle School and schools throughout our school district. We support them and their families.”

CARP, or Cannabis Association for Responsible Producers, pledged to fill the counselor’s position for three years for a total of $189,000. The school district will hire a counselor through the Council on Alcoholism and Drug Abuse, which specializes in youth programs and interventions for at-risk youth throughout Santa Barbara County.

The nonprofit group sponsored college tours for high school students last year. Before the start of the 2019-2020 school year, it was determined that the middle school youth counselor was an unmet top priority for the school district. “Farmers in Carpinteria Valley have been the backbone of local nonprofits that provide so many critical community services,” said Anthony Staal, CARP Growers board secretary. “Economically, things weren’t looking so hot for our flower growers, five or 10 years ago; so, to see this donation is a sure sign that a rising tide can lift all ships.”

CARP Growers is comprised of 12 member farms. The news release said organization’s mission is to “foster a positive relationship with the community of Carpinteria by setting best practices among cannabis farmers.” To be a member, farmers must demonstrate they use vapor-phase odor-control systems, among other best practices, and commit to using membership dues to contribute to community causes.

It’s pretty awesome to live in a county where the growers care as much about the children this much. As a patient and so much more often I’ll get frustrated with the lack of compassion I see with the ‘Green Rush’. I believe that many see the negative side of the Cannabis industry and miss out on news like this. As cannabis patients, growers, researchers, product manufacturers and more – we all have a responsibility of some type. When a group does something like this it’s above and beyond the call of duty. With the enforcement practices under Prop 64, the state of CA. has yet to see the windfall of tax revenue help it’s schools – instead we’ve seen reports of preschools and daycare funding being yanked away as those necessary entities close in multiple counties. We’re in a rush to figure out how a very commercialized law will still serve the consumers in CA, but one thing is for sure – CARP growers is in a rush to make Santa Barbara county known for doing much more than caring about the smell of skunk coming from it’s grows. Caring about children is what we all should be doing as they are the future of this world.