More than 200 people packed the Willits Community Center on November 5 for an educational event hosted by the Small Farmers Association, which focused on “Laws, Regulations, and Legalization,” and the range of different requirements for cannabis farmers and businesses’ hoping to come into compliance with several new regulations and permits approved this year.

Organized as a roundtable with eight different experts and informational tables for attendees to peruse, the event drew attendees from more than five different counties and covered both legal regulations and aspects of business management important for those trying to make the transition to the state’s newly regulated commercial medical cannabis industry. Such regulations include compliance with local laws, regional requirements such as the newly implemented north coast waterboard permit program, and state licensing requirements for cannabis farmers and businesses, a major shift for what has been a largely unregulated industry forbidding commercial cultivation under previous...