The following press release was sent by Humboldt State University Sociology Professor Josh Meisel, co-director of the Humboldt Institute for Interdisciplinary Marijuana Research:

HSU’s Humboldt Institute for Interdisciplinary Marijuana Research (HIIMR) and the Humboldt County Growers Alliance will host “The Other Side of Murder Mountain,” a panel discussion on Wednesday, Feb. 27 from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Kate Buchanan Room. Part of HSU’s annual Social Justice Summit, the panel will explore the consequences of media coverage of Humboldt County’s cannabis industry.

The Netflix series “Murder Mountain” was released in late 2018, presenting what some suggest is a distorted representation of Humboldt County.

Focusing on a geographic area in a remote corner of Humboldt County, a two-hour drive from HSU and representing a fraction of Humboldt County’s population, the filmmakers describe “a wild, lawless place” where “vigilante justice and outlaw culture … resembles America’s Wild West past.”

The purpose of this panel is to critically examine representations of culture, place, and the cannabis industry in Humboldt County.

“For those watching the Netflix series, Murder Mountain is being equated with all of Humboldt County, and that has important policy implications,” says Josh Meisel, co-director of HIIMR. “For example, the new governor is now calling for sending National Guard troops to Humboldt County to fight cartel-controlled cannabis grows, despite questions about the relative influence of cartels in Humboldt County.”

The panel will be hosted by Dominic Corva, founder and executive director of the Cannabis and Social Policy Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to learning lessons about and from emergent landscapes of cannabis legalization. Corva is also an affiliate researcher for the HIIMR.

Panelists include:

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