Encinitas flower farmer hopes to use part of farm for marijuana 

ENCINITAS (KUSI) — A very successful and respectable flower farmer in Encinitas is hoping to add about an acre of marijuana to save the family farm.

The Dramm and Echte Farm has been in San Diego County for decades, but times are tough, and the owner is hoping to be a part of the so-called "green rush." 

Now that marijuana is legal in California, there are a lot of people who want to get into the business.

They’re calling it the "green rush" after the old California "gold rush." 

It’s clearly a multi-billion dollar opportunity, but it’s a tricky business in many ways.

That’s why a place like the flower field is perfectly positioned to make it happen. Over at Dramm and Echte Farm, everything is already in place. They have the green houses, they have all the materials and, most importantly, they have decades of knowledge about growing.

It’s basically a matter of putting different seeds in the ground. 

But that’s the easy party.

The tough part is navigating local, state and federal laws, which sometimes overlap.

And then there’s public opinion, like the neighbors.

Judging by general reaction to this, the stigma for pot appears to be slowly changing.

right now, the Encinitas City Council has setup a special committee to look at all the possibilities here. They remain open minded about it.

But the bottom line is that the flower business is simply not as profitable as it used to be, with the price of water and labor going up and competition from South America.

So the Dramm and Echte Farm is putting together a master plan with the help of some experts. 

Megan Sanders knows a lot about pot. She’s the cannabis queen of Colorado. From growing, to dispensing, to specialty products, she’s been through it all. Especially the part of navigating the complicated and fuzzy marijuana laws.

And once you navigate the state laws, there’s always the feds.

They still classify pot with heroin and cocaine, but it looks like there will be no big crack down, anytime soon, on state’s where it’s legal.