The dirty little secret: Women on Marijuana Farms at Risk of Domestic Violence

◼ Women on Marijuana Farms at Risk of Domestic Violence - Kym Kemp/Lost Coast Outpost ◼ Crossposted at Redheaded Blackbelt

According to an article in Healthy Cal, an online magazine about California, some women in the pot industry are dealing with dangerous and violent conditions. While the article’s title—Young Women in Pot Industry Face Exploitation—conjures up images of a nationwide sexploitation of young women, the piece focuses on domestic violence among marijuana growers in Humboldt County, particularly in the southern half.

◼ Young women in pot industry face exploitation - Suzanne Hurt/California Health Report

Garberville, population 913, is a former logging town set in a lush valley on the south fork of the Eel River. About 200 miles north of San Francisco just off Highway 101, the tiny enclave is surrounded by steep hills and thick redwood forests home to a thriving arts community, a sustainable living movement and a large number of home-based businesses. While some make candles and weave wall hangings from locally spun yarn, others make a living growing pot in a region the BBC dubbed the marijuana heartland of the United States.

The cannabis industry is pumping a lot of cash into the community. Unfortunately, life is far from idyllic on some pot farms, and victims of violence are also being churned out into the community.

Helping women in these situations involves unique challenges. Many farms are in remote wooded areas reachable only by dirt roads. Communication is limited. The women are isolated and often living in substandard conditions in shacks, buses and vans without power or telephones.

In nearly half of the cases, the violence is perpetrated by a husband or boyfriend. In one case, a 33-year-old woman and her husband were growing pot and raising three children on a marijuana farm miles from Garberville. Her husband had a drinking problem, and was getting more violent. One day, he became extremely violent and threw the car keys into the woods. “Michelle” fled on foot with only a cell phone, climbed into a tree to hide and called Balletta.

“Still to this day, the scariest call I got,” said Balletta, who drove out with the sheriff in tow and searched the area until the woman stepped out of the woods and onto a paved road as night fell....

Men managing the farms can be paranoid over the threat of raids or people stealing the plants. Women’s cell phones may be taken away and they may not be allowed to leave until season’s end. Some are forced off farms at gunpoint without being paid. Women may be beaten or psychologically controlled. Sometimes, what started as a casual hookup or dating scenario turns into demands for sex and even assault, Watkins said.
“It may have been fun at first. But it becomes clear they really don’t have a choice,” she said....