A potent tension is disturbing the aromatic green fields and verdant centers of marijuana commerce in California as pot farmers and weed merchants brood over a future that is even more uncertain as the corporate world cozies up to the smokable herb.
A ballot measure that would legalize recreational pot has divided people who produce the mind-altering and medicinal plant, particularly the small growers in Humboldt, Mendocino and Trinity counties, the cannabis mecca known as the Emerald Triangle.

Some in the industry believe legitimacy would boost their bottom line, but others fear the Adult Use of Marijuana Act, labeled Proposition 64, would allow venture capitalists to drive out the small farmers who provided the troubled former timber towns on the North Coast with an economic engine and made California the weed capital of the world. [Read more at San Francisco Chronicle]