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Has Santa Barbara County’s cannabis dreams gone up in smoke?

August 24, 2025

By KAREN VELIE

Following legalization, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors embraced the cannabis industry, which was projected to all but eliminate the illicit marijuana trade while generating significant tax revenue. But that’s not what happened.

“The cannabis program began with an expectation that it would provide a windfall of tax revenue to Santa Barbara County,” according to a Santa Barbara County Grand Jury report. “However, this expectation is no longer being met due to changing market conditions.”

In the 2020-2021 fiscal year, the county collected $15,746,600 in tax revenue while spending $8,946,600 on the program, leaving a profit of $6,800,000, according to the Grand Jury report. But the following fiscal year, the county was bringing in less revenue then its expenditures.

In fiscal year 2024-2025, the county collected $5,411,300 in tax revenue while spending $8,341,900 on the program, leaving expenditures running nearly $3 million more than revenues.

An oversupply of cannabis led to declining prices from a high of $1,200 a pound in 2020 to $250 a pound in 2025, according to the Grand Jury report. While the number of illegal grows has fallen in Santa Barbara County, black market cannabis continues to flood the market.

In addition, high fees and taxes and security requirements have forced some cannabis companies to close.

There are also concerns that some cannabis growers are underreporting, while selling product on the black market.

“The county’s reliance on self-reporting gross receipts has made it difficult to evaluate their accuracy,” according to the Grand Jury report. “This self-reporting system has made it challenging for budget analysts to predict revenue and for auditors to ensure compliance.”

In its June report, the Grand Jury recommends Santa Barbara County decrease the money it spends on enforcement against illicit cannabis cultivation, prioritize covering the direct cost of the cannabis program, and develop a centralized program for reporting and payments.

At the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisor’s meeting on Aug. 19, Cannabis Program Manager Carmela Beck discussed the county’s proposed response to the grand jury report.

While Beck agreed with issues noted in the report, she said the county complied with many of the Grand Jury’s recommendations during budget discussions in June by cutting more than $1.2 million from the cannabis program to cover the projected shortfall.

Beck disagreed with the Grand Jury’s recommendation that it create a centralized program, saying it would be too expensive to integrate the county’s two separate licensing and payment systems.

The Grand Jury gave Santa Barbara County 90 days to respond to its June 20 report.

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Counties would have made more money if they had followed the will of the people; recall that people voted to legalize cannabis. Because of the greed of county governments, people looked for alternative sources of cannabis that had reasonable prices, which had the effect of creating a thriving black market. It’s a plant: put it in the ground and watch it grow. What in the world did SB County spend $8 million on?


2

Remember too, the government could not run a whorehouse saloon in Nevada.


Curious, how much of that unprofitable Santa Barbara revenue, came from forced child labor?


9

This is what happens when money is the motive, and the best salesperson is elected. Remember that government operates on a generational basis so they will survive on stupidity and by law, the public is on the hook to cover the costs for error correction. As for self-inflicted legal costs, forget the next road repairs.


27

Government is in the business of screwing up the simplest of situations.


28

100%


“The nine most terrifying words in the English language are, I’m from the government and I’m here to help.” – Ronald Reagan, August 12th, 1986


24

California missed the point with deregulation. It’s not about making money for the government; it’s about making it legal for people to grow their own and making amends to the people who were thrown in jail because of a plant!


18

Many government entities went on a drunken spending spees with the sky high estimates of income the so called experts said pot would generate, and for the most part actually revenues fell drastically short of projections, and now those entities won’t do what they should and just elimate all the spending they originally did and only spend based on what pot sales actually are.


39

Dopers are dopes!


18

That why they call it DOPE!!!!


2

I’d be very interested to know the numbers on what kind of “windfall” both alcohol and tobacco brings in comparably…


1

Twelve year-old kids in the nation’s inner cities can turn a profit on weed sales. California? Not so much….

This whole thing has been a boondoggle only slightly exceeded by the Train to Nowhere. But go ahead, Lefties, and validate Gavvie-Wavvie’s boutique beef against Trump.


50

Libocrats have ZERO self-awareness! It is their mental illness (as confirmed by multiple mental health studies).


Make no mistake about it, their stage 4 TDS is a real mental illness.


37