SANTA CRUZ COUNTY, CA — Officials have confirmed that singer-songwriter Melissa Etheridge and her wife, Linda, along with business partners Jozee and Cricket Roberto, have received the first-ever non-retail cannabis license in Santa Cruz County. The four business owners will open their 6,000-square-foot manufacturing and distribution center in Soquel.
“It is not a retail location or dispensary, where people can come and purchase products,” Jozee Roberto told KSBW8. Instead, the company will take raw cannabis and create the “Etheridge Farms” product line that will be distributed to dispensaries and delivery services.
Etheridge made the business announcement during her July 23 concert at The Mountain Winery in Saratoga. “We just received the first manufacturing license for cannabis … ,” she told cheering concertgoers.
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On July 26, the county posted on its official Facebook page, “The County has issued its first non-retail cannabis license. Congratulations to Etheridge Farms!”
Etheridge is a breast cancer survivor and is committed to the medicinal use of marijuana.
“I’m really just entering the market with what I’ve learned in the last 10 years about cannabis in wanting to bring a product to America that is focused on health and on wellness and how important this plant is and used to be in our medicinal system,” Etheridge told Billboard in 2016 after she announced the launch of the Etheridge Farms product line.
Etheridge and her partners were required to go through all the county processes required for the license. And although the foursome was first to obtain one, there is a long line of applicants looking to do the same.
Etheridge performing “I Run for Life” — a song about her cancer battle — with the Columbus Symphony in 2016:
Watch the full KSBW8 segment.