HIIMR

About Us

The Humboldt Institute for Interdisciplinary Marijuana Research is a research and analysis organization created to fill various information gaps about marijuana issues. The Institute is a local, regional, state and national resource. It conducts, analyzes and disseminates research and provides expertise to policy makers, health care and medical professionals, businesses and the media, among others. An information clearinghouse, the Institute promotes rigorous and scholarly scientific study of marijuana issues. The Institute's purpose is analysis, not advocacy. It takes no position, for example, on legalization or decriminalization. Likewise, it offers no classes or training programs. Humboldt State University is a logical home for the Institute because of our interdisciplinary expertise in the environment and natural resources. The marijuana industry has a major impact in these areas, as well as on the region's economy and social fabric. As laws about and perceptions of marijuana issues evolve, the Institute will share information, contribute research to public policy debates and help broaden community and national understanding.

Objectives

The Institute’s objectives are to:

  • Create a high-profile Institute within Humboldt State University for the purpose of providing marijuana policy analysis;
  • Promote rigorous scientific and scholarly opportunities for faculty, staff, and students;
  • Encourage scholarly and policy collaborations with researchers from other institutions;
  • Serve as a clearinghouse of marijuana related research.
In order to accomplish these objectives, the Institute will engage in the following activities:
  • Collect, analyze and disseminate data to the public and to policymakers;
  • Collaborate with other institutions and agencies to support and enhance existing as well as ongoing projects and goals;
  • Submit proposals for internal and external research funding; and
  • Preserve and archive data through the HSU Library Special Collections Unit.
Research goals focus on data collection and assessment methods that can be used to enhance knowledge available to communities, researchers, educators, and others in better understanding the past, present, and potential future role of marijuana at it relates to the regional economy, workforce development, health, environment, and community relations.

Here is a copy of our charter.

Faculty Member Research Interests

  • Erick Eschker (Economics): measuring the size and impact of marijuana production on the local economy and the economic impacts of possible legalization of marijuana production and consumption.
  • Yvonne Everett (Environmental Science and Management): assessing impacts on communities, environmental impacts, and potential community responses.
  • Gregg Gold (Psychology): determining how attitudes and behaviors change based on an individual’s perceptions of the social atmosphere regarding marijuana, and how marijuana use affects health outcomes.
  • Josh Meisel (Sociology): examining evolving community attitudes towards marijuana cultivation and communities as well as the history of marijuana control on the North Coast.
  • Jason S. Plume (Politics): explaining medical marijuana advocacy organizational policy reform tactics at federal, state, county, and local levels of government and regulatory alternatives including medical legalization, “lowest priority” laws, and non-punitive sentencing.
  • Anthony Silvaggio (Sociology): determining the ecological and public health impacts of marijuana production on rural communities and identifying the nature of environmental crimes committed by the industry, impacts on public and private lands, and how law enforcement, public health officials, and policy makers respond.
  • Monica Stephens (Geography): methods of studying the “shadow economy”, big data, surveillance, economic variance in pricing of marijuana. 
  • Ronnie Swartz (Social Work): determining the policy and practices that reduce harm to people, communities, and the environment from marijuana use and drug policy.
  • Jessica Van Arsdale (CA Center for Rural Policy): determining the chemical components and how this relates to medicinal properties (% THC vs % Cannabinoids), long-term effects on children who are exposed to marijuana in-utero or early in life, the true prevalence of marijuana use among different sectors of our community and differences between medical and recreational use.
  • Elizabeth Watson (Sociology): Understanding local physicians and medical marijuana ethical issues and dewatering of North Coast streams.
  • Beth Wilson (Economics): estimating the production function of the marijuana industry and the size (in terms of sales) of the industry in Humboldt County, so that IMPLAN can be used to measure the economic impact on Humboldt County from possible legalization.

Community Member Research Interests

  • Edie Butler: long term preservation and archiving of local research on marijuana and identifying and filling gaps in the record of the marijuana phenomena in northwest California.

Contact Us

Co-Directors

Dr. Erick Eschker, Professor of Economics. phone: 707.826.3216 • email: erick@humboldt.edu

Dr. Josh Meisel, Associate Professor of Sociology. phone: 707.826.4446 • email: meisel@humboldt.edu