2025
Sorgen, J., LaRosa, S., Sowerwine, J., Butsic, V., Nelson, P., McCavour, M., Gaughen, S., Starkey, A.
Journal of Extension
Our researchers and Tribal Advisory Committee found widespread concern among Native communities about environmental impacts of cannabis cultivation. These concerns underscore the need to include Native communities in Extension activities across all regions and sectors.
2025
Sorgen, J., Nelson, P., Butsic, V., LaRosa, S., Gaughen, S., Crosby, E., Geary, R., Sowerwine, J.
Environmental Science & Policy
This study analyzes key barriers to meaningful Tribal consultation through analysis of intergovernmental consultation policy and practice in California. We argue that these barriers trace back to asymmetrical power relations and legacies of colonial governance and exclusion, and we offer recommendations to strengthen Tribal-agency relations in cultural resource protection.
2025
Sorgen, J., Nelson, P., LaRosa, S., Butsic, V., Gaughen, S., Starkey, A.M., McCavour, M., Geary, R., Sowerwine, J.
Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space
Our study underscores the need to support Tribal sovereignty in land use decision making by strengthening and enforcing protections for Tribal Cultural Resources. Through qualitative analysis of California AB 52, we found that local level consultation holds promise for strengthening cultural resource protections, even as laws are inconsistently applied across different jurisdictions.
2025
Martin J.V., Dillis C., Starrs G., Schell D., Grantham T.E., Butsic V.
Wildfire impacts and mitigation strategies among California cannabis producers
The geography of cannabis production overlaps with high fire hazard areas more than any other crop in the state. Over the same period, licensed cannabis production has grown to a high-grossing industry, while remaining an important source of rural livelihood.
2024
Kulik, M.C., Lee, Y.O., Butsic, V., Cermak, T.L., Cooper, Z.D., Corva, D., Marcotte, T.D., Uskup, D.K., McKnight, T.R., Balla, A.
Cannabis and Cannabinoid Research
In 2023 cannabis researchers from across the University of California system presented their work to state agencies and policymakers.
2024
Polson, M., Laudati, A., Sayre, N.
An oversupply of cannabis and high regulatory costs results in an unlicensed market. Based on over 150 extended interviews with people involved with cannabis cultivation in three regions of California, this report documents and interprets the persistence and transformation of unlicensed cultivation since legalization.
2024
Getz, C., Petersen-Rockney, M., Polson, M
Berkeley Cannabis Research Center
Although adult-use cannabis was legalized by state voters in 2016, more than two-thirds of localities have opted to ban its cultivation.
2024
Dillis, C., Petersen-Rockney, M., Polson, M.
Journal of Environmental Management
The marginalization of cannabis farms to the fringe areas of our state has created environmental conflict and negatively affects growers.
2023
Parker-Shames, P., Bodwitch, H., Brashares, J., Butsic, V.
Landscape and Urban Planning
Integrating socio-cultural data such as farmer interviews is critical for ecological models and understanding land use trends in cannabis production.
2023
Biber, E., Moira O’Neill, M., de Genova, H., Froehlich, D., Hossack, J., Park, T.
Social Science Research Network
Legal researchers analyzed local and state cannabis laws regulating outdoor and mixed-light licensed commercial cannabis cultivation.
2023
Dillis, C., Butsic, V., Martin, J., Reiman, A., Starrs, G., Grantham, T.
Environmental Research Letters
With the largest legal cannabis market in the world, California's cannabis crops face increasing wildfire impacts, leading to substantial economic loss.
2023
Parker-Shames, P.
Zócalo Public Square
Could Cannabis Help The American West Solve Its Thorniest Environmental Issues?
2023
Getz, C., Petersen-Rockney, M., Polson, M.
After investigating the causes and effects of local cannabis cultivation bans, we recommend policy change.
2023
Dillis, C., Butsic, V., Georgakakos, P., Portugal, E., Grantham, T.
Environmental Research Communications
Water use on unpermitted farms varies by watershed. With scenario modeling, we project the impacts of compliance with water extraction and off-stream storage.
2023
Polson, M., Bodwitch, H., Corva, D., Getz, C., Laudati, A., Petersen-Rockney, M., Runsten, D., Taylor, K.
Left unaddressed, smaller businesses and farms will likely collapse. Of all actors in the cannabis market, the impacts of this current moment rest most heavily upon smaller producers.
2023
Polson, M., Bodwitch, H., Biber, E., Butsic, V., Grantham, T.
Land Use Policy
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?
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.
2022
Parker-Shames, P.
Doctoral Disseration
Phoebe Parker-Shames' dissertation, submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Environmental Science, Policy, and Management in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley
2022
Dillis, C., Butsic, V., Moanga, D., Parker-Shames, P., Wartenberg, A., Grantham, T.
Agroecosytems
Where should we grow? Explore the vulnerability of California's cannabis agriculture to wildfire.
2021
Polson, M.
The War on Drugs, a History
Explore how the War on Drugs shaped cannabis cultivation, public opinion and governance in the context of the U.S. versus the globe.
2021
Polson, M.
The Routledge Handbook of Interdisciplinary Cannabis Research
There are shades of gray between cannabis legalization and prohibition. Exploring this gradient illuminates how shifts in power structures impact the social reality of cannabis production and regulation, as observed in California
2021
Dillis, C., Bodwitch, H., Carah, J., Power, M., Sayre, N.
The Routledge Handbook of Interdisciplinary Cannabis Research
Will regulation of cannabis production lead to its industrialization? Can more sustainable models emerge for communities and the environment?
2021
Wartenberg, A. C., Holden, P. A., Bodwitch, H., Parker-Shames, P., Novotny, T., Harmon, T. C., & Butsic, V.
Environmental Science & Technology Letters
Explore environmental impacts of cannabis production and how evidence-based policy can reduce harms.
2021
Dillis, C., Butsic, V., Carah, J., Zipper, S.C. and Grantham, T.
Environmental Research Communications
Well water irrigates California’s top-producing cannabis farming regions. Why? What are the impacts?
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.
2021
Parker-Shames, P., Choi, C., Butsic, V. , Green, D., Barry, B., Moriarty, K. , Levi, T., Brashares, J. S.
The Society for Conservation Biology
What are ecological impacts of cannabis legalization? To find out, we mapped the first season of legal cannabis farms in Josephine County, southern Oregon.
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?
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?
2020
Polson, M.
Environmental and Planning D: Society and Space
As questions of cannabis legalization arise, exurbs struggle to differentiate the rural and urban.
2020
Dillis, C., McIntee, C., Butsic, V., Le, L. Grady, K., & Grantham, T.
Journal of Environmental Management
What cultivation practices help cannabis farmers store enough water to eliminate surface water diversions during California’s dry growing season?
2020
P. Parker-Shames, W. Xu, L. Rich, and J. Brashares
California Fish and Wildlife Journal
As legal cannabis agriculture expands in rural areas, wildlife will respond, but how? In the biodiverse region of Klamath-Siskiyou in southern Oregon, cameras positioned around small cannabis farms reveal individual responses of different species.
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.
2019
Schwab, B., Wartenberg, A. & Butsic, V.
California Agriculture
Are California’s cannabis regulations leading to industry consolidation and larger farms?
2019
Valachovic, Y., Quinn-Davidson, L., Stackhouse, J. and Butsic, V.
California Agriculture
What are the impacts of cannabis legalization on traditional rural livelihoods?
2019
Polson, M.
Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space
How have environmental concerns become cover for injecting exploitation, inequality and stigma into the policy and regulation of cannabis production?
2019
Wilson, H., Bodwitch, H., Carah, J., Daane, K., Getz C., Grantham, T. E., & Butsic, V.
California Agriculture
Cannabis legalization opens opportunities to study and share best practices. Our survey of growers reveals starting points.
2019
Dillis, C., Grantham, T., McIntee, C., McFadin, B. & Grady, K.
California Agriculture
How does water use by cannabis farms affect streams in California's North Coast? Our study starts at the source.
2019
Bodwitch, H., Carah, J., Daane, K. M., Getz C., Grantham, T. E., Hickey, G. M., & Wilson, H.
California Agriculture
Small cannabis farms are common. Permit licenses are not. A survey of grower incentives and economic implications of California's cannabis legalization.
2018
Polson, M.
In Economy, Crime and Wrong in a Neoliberal Era
Long before legalization, the use and distribution of marijuana was framed in neoliberal market terms.
2018
Butsic, V., Carah, J., Baumann, M., Stephens, C. & Brenner, J.C.
Environmental Research Letters
How does California’s rapid expansion of cannabis agriculture into "frontiers" of sensitive habitat compare to regulatory investments? What does this portend for global cannabis frontiers?
2017
Wang, I.J., Brenner, J.C. and Butsic, V.
Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment
A booming cannabis industry expands agriculture into forest habitat. Science offers methods to understand impacts and shape policy.
2017
Polson, M.
The Illicit in the Governance and Development of Cities, Regions, and Networks: Corrupt Places
Explore marijuana’s pivotal role in defining the development of Humboldt County in rural North Coast, California.
2017
Butsic, V., Schwab, B., Baumann, M. & Brenner, J.C.
Ecological Economics
What factors influence the location and size of cannabis cultivation sites?
2016
Butsic, V. & Brenner, J.C.
Environmental Research Letters
Spatial patterns of cannabis grow sites reveal environmental impacts of an expanding industry.
2015
Polson, M.
Territory, Politics, Governance
Power shifts in the governance of medical marijuana redefine ‘community’ and territorial production.
2015
Carah, J. K., Howard, J. K., Thompson, S.E., Short Gianotti, A. G., Bauer, S.D., Carlson, S. M., Dralle, D. N., Gabriel, M., Hulette, L., Johnson, B.J., Knight, C. A., Kupferberg, S., Martin, S., Naylor, R., and Power, M.
BioScience
Investment in research, policy and governance can address negative impacts of cannabis cultivation to the environment.
2013
Polson, M.
PoLAR: Political and Legal Anthropology Review
A state-land-finance complex emerges from a changing political economy of marijuana in California.
Showing all 47 results