PROFILE

Michael Polson

Researcher

Research Scientist

UC Berkeley Department of Geography

Michael studies the changing political economies of northern California as marijuana production becomes formal, public, and represented broadly.

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Publications

After legalization: Cannabis, environmental compliance, and agricultural futures

2023

Polson, M., Bodwitch, H., Biber, E., Butsic, V., Grantham, T.

ScienceDirect

There are many barriers to participation in California's regulated cannabis industry. Is there a way to achieve environmental objectives, farmer compliance, and an equitable transition away from illegal markets?

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Policy Findings & Recommendations Regarding California Cannabis: Farming, Regulation and the Environment

2022

Polson, M., Butsic, V., Dillis, C., de Genova, H., Grantham, T., Herrera, L.R., Hossack, J., Laudati, A., Martin, J.V., Parker-Shames, P., Petersen-Rockney, M., Sorgen, J., Starrs, G.

This report presents multiple pathways for consideration by state and local governments, in their efforts to improve cannabis cultivation policy.

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Photo of cannabis plants in an indoor farm greenhouse being cut by an inspector due to non-compliance with regulation.

Why comply? Farmer motivations and barriers in cannabis agriculture

2021

Bodwitch, H., Polson , M., Biber, E., Hickey, G. M., Butsic, V.

Journal of Rural Studies

Despite legalization, illicit cannabis production continues in California. Surveys reveal that small farmers face outsized burdens to compliance.

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Shifting geographies of legal cannabis production in California

2021

Dillis, C., Biber, E., Bodwitch, H., Butsic, V., Carah, J., Parker-Shames, P., Polson, M. and Grantham, T.

Land Use Policy

How has legalization shaped patterns of farm location, size, land ownership, and regulatory compliance in California?

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Photographed graffiti wall painting of police detaining a person associated with Cannabis.

Prohibited commoning: Cannabis and emancipatory legalization

2021

Polsen, M. and Bodwitch, H.

Elementa: Science of the Anthropocene

Should collective systems of resource sharing developed under cannabis prohibition be explicitly addressed via legalization, policy, and programs?

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Photograph of police officer in front of cannabis plants in the outdoors

Buttressed and breached: The exurban fortress, cannabis activism, and the drug war’s shifting political geography

2020

Polson, M.

Environmental and Planning D: Society and Space

As questions of cannabis legalization arise, exurbs struggle to differentiate the rural and urban.

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Cannabis farmers or criminals? Enforcement-first approaches fuel disparity and hinder regulation

2019

Polson, M., Petersen-Rockney, M.

California Agriculture

Siskiyou County, and many other counties in California, chose not to recognize cannabis cultivation as agriculture. This ethnographic study reveals the effects on parity in farmer rights and access to resources.

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