Needles, California, which has seen better days like many Route 66 towns bypassed by the interstate decades ago, is betting on future growth with the marijuana industry.
This isn’t just hyperbole. Check out these facts from the story by the New York Times:
The City Council in this solidly Republican community of 5,000 people has approved 81 permits for cannabis businesses since 2015. Four stores are selling marijuana to the public — about 100 times the number of dispensaries per person over the entire state.
Almost every block in Needles has a run-down building like the old Relax Inn, which is being converted into a cannabis growing facility. Or a new building going up for manufacturing oils and edibles. If all the projects pan out, local officials hope they will generate more jobs — an estimated 2,100 — than Needles has altogether right now.
“You would be hard-pressed to find someone in town who their brother, uncle, sister, aunt, cousin or themselves isn’t involved in the industry,” Rick Daniels, the city manager, said in an interview at Needle’s single-story City Hall.
Needles’ first pot dispensaries about five years faced some opposition, namely from churches. But the shops haven’t attracted ne’er-do-wells as expected, and the local crime rate has remained stable.
If you want a clear signal how much Needles has embraced marijuana, check this out:
At the Wagon Wheel, the city’s oldest restaurant, a small souvenir shop now offers flags with the marijuana leaf and commemorative signs for Route 420, a code number of sorts for marijuana, along with the old Route 66 memorabilia.
The Wagon Wheel also was one of the late Bob Waldmire’s favorite Route 66 restaurants. In fact, the famed Route 66 artist and hippie designed the menus for the Wagon Wheel years ago. And, yes, Waldmire was a marijuana user, though a close friend described him as a “microtoker.”
Interestingly, the town’s soon-to-be mayor formerly was the county sheriff. Like many residents, he’s come to accept the pot industry in Needles after initially being resistant to it.
True story: About seven years ago, I realized the so-called “war on drugs” had been lost when out of more than 100 concerts I’ve attended in my lifetime, a Hank Williams Jr. show I attended that night had the most pot-smoking I’d ever seen. And his fan base never would be described as liberal hippies.
The story says Needles is an ideal place for growing pot because of an ample water supply from the Colorado River and cheap electric rates from the locally owned utility to power the greenhouse grow lights.
In case you’re wondering where the Needles pot dispensaries are, check out this map.
It will be interesting to see how the pot plan pans out in Needles. Don’t expect me to visit one of the dispensaries on Route 66, however. I still have never smoked or consumed marijuana — ever.
(Image of the welcome wagon in Needles, California, by orientalizing via Flickr)
There’s so much smoking at a Hank Jr concert because you’re searched at the door for booze and it gets confiscated!