I am still haunted by a story that came out in June 2020. The story was about a mysterious cannabis factory which was “just discovered” close to the Middletons’ family home in Bucklebury. One might even say that the grow operation was adjacent to Middleton Manor, and so close to Carole and Michael Middleton’s home that it would be pretty wild if they had no idea what was happening. There was a police raid on the cannabis farm and then there was zero follow-up reporting on it, which also made me believe that the Middletons were involved somehow. I bring all of this up because the Duke and Duchess of Sussex apparently also live close to a weed farm in Montecito. It’s a legal weed farm, but the smell is getting everyone high? Montecito Mary Jane: A Sussex Story.
Harry and Meghan have been braving a right royal stink – from a giant cannabis factory. A legal weed firm has 20 large greenhouses full of the plants just minutes from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex’s mansion in California. And following a string of complaints from neighbours, the company has vowed to install new “odour control systems”.
One local told the Sunday Mirror the smell is so bad he had to pull over while driving. The factory is less than a 10-minute drive from the Montecito mansion where the couple live with son Archie, two, and two month-old daughter Lilibet.
Local Gregory Gandrud, 60, said of the new anti-smell measures: “This is good news for us, and Harry and Meghan. The stink was getting stronger and heading their way. I was driving along the freeway and was hit hard by the smell. I had to pull over. It made me completely lose my train of thought. Lots of people here are suffering.”
Richard Mineards, another neighbour, added: “Growing cannabis near here became legal in 2016 and lots of growers jumped on the bandwagon.”
The Santa Barbara Coalition of Responsible Cannabis and Cannabis Association for Responsible Producers have both promised a “new expanded odour response process”.
The purpose of this story is to make it sound like Meghan and Harry are living in a very druggy neighborhood or something, like how shameful it is that Montecito has the pungent scent of Mary Jane wafting through the air. But it sounds like the Sussexes are close to a lot of farmland and of course people are growing marijuana. It’s a super-profitable crop. I wish Meghan and Harry would lean into it and invest in a grow-operation or something. I hope they’re hotboxing one of their twenty-six bathrooms right now! Anyway, I’d still love to know if the Middletons were secretly operating a cannabis factory.
Photos courtesy of Avalon Red.
The desperation!
I’m shocked they haven’t brought up that ANYONE can grow a certain amount of pot here so why no HARRY AND MEGHAN WEED IN THE GARDEN OF BLISS?! stories coming out?! lol.
Don’t you need to smoke it or eat it to get high? I doubt residents are getting high off the smell of the plants.
You are right. The THC has to be activated by heat to get you high. Some claim that the terpenes present in the plant may give a calming effect from smelling it. Aromatherapy, I guess.
This is true, but you’d have to already associate the smell of the living plant with good times.
This is my industry. Some of the living plant strains smell so bad you gag if you take a big whiff. The THC forms later in the plants bloom cycle and do not smell enjoyable until dried.
Those facilities in CA have to carbon filter also.
Interesting WigletWatcher! I had no idea about that.
Janetdr
Happy to spread the tid bits of knowledge!
I had no idea either, and I do my part to support California’s local weed industry. Thanks, Wiglet Watcher!
Good defense for a teenager when mom finds the pot stash. “I’m not smoking it, I keep it in my sock drawer because the smell calms me when I freak out over my calculus test” 🙂
The only thing I’d be worried about is waking up one morning and realizing Carole has expanded and is my neighbor.
HA!
Ha! I gotta admit if this were ever to even come close to being a possiblity I would probably be forced to give that woman props just for her extreme dedciation to be messy.
LMAO @My3Cents.. Now THAT would be nightmare fuel!!
I may or may not know the smell of weed from a burning joint but what odor comes from the crop? Sounds like another made up story but idk.
@Lizzie – I thought the exact same thing.
The plant per se is really smelly. I’m not kidding you, I was standing 3 meters away (I think that’s 9 feet?) from a plant and the smell was so strong! If that was only one plant I can’t imagine what a greenhouse must smell like.
Now, the story sounds really exaggerated, Sir, are you sure you got high just from the smell?
Nope. It is real. The oils in a marijuana plant have a really strong smell, somewhere between the smell of pine trees, grass/weeds, skunks and sometimes sewage. I think the smell has to do with the growth stage. IDK.
I live in Colorado, the first state to legalise, and it has been an ongoing issue in some places. My neighbourhood isn’t conducive to grow operations because of the geography, but people who live in areas with a lot of flat land sometimes aren’t so lucky.
If they are just growing the plant it won’t be that bad though. If they are manipulating it then I can see where the smell comes from. The story mentioned greenhouses, but still it’s unlikely to smell that bad miles away.
Also if it smelled that much then what about the Middleton pot farm?
Y’all don’t know stink until you live near a dairy farm. I’m in the San Joaquin Valley surrounded by multiple dairy farms (and orange orchards) & the stink is real. I like to open my window first thing in the morning, to get some cool air, but sometimes the stink is too much & I just have to close them. Too, we’re surrounded by burning forests so there’s also ash to deal with.
It stinks to high heaven. A company wanted to open a processing plant and retail facility in our neighborhood and our community went to the zoning meeting and protested. It was turned down. It one thing to have this in a country area but was this right in the city. One of our neighbors was growing a few plants in a pot in the backyard and when the wind blew you could smell it. So I can’t imagine living next to a whole farm.
The smell right before harvesting is kind of skunk like, for about a month. My neighbor grows several plants. Even working in Englwood, CO (town where there are legal grow factories), the smell wasnt terrible, just wafts of skunk.
Oh it absolutely stinks. I’ve been around people who smoke it and I could not stand the smell. My eyes started to water and I don’t even have sensitive eyes.
The smell of growing weed permeates everything. I looked at an office/warehouse building to lease and the previous tenants had turned it into an illegal grow (this was before it was legal). They had to strip the building down to the studs, replace sheet rock, insulation, etc and I could still smell it. I don’t know if it had permeated the concrete floors or what, but the smell was still there.
And now, the office/warehouse we did lease, one of the warehouses across the street is a grow house. For the longest time I didn’t know, I just thought there were a lot of skunks around. LOL
@Lizzie, another creative writing story from the British Media. Gandrud’s bedroom window was 80 feet from a vapor system pipe. Dude wasn’t getting high driving along the freeway. The chemical fumes were effecting his partner’s(I think) asthma. The stench of pot would hit them at dinner time though. You can see how close the growhouses are to the homes in the 2nd picture. Now, the Because I Got High Song is running through my head.
https://www.edhat.com/news/carpinteria-cannabis-plaintiffs-sell-home-next-to-ever-bloom
Marijuana plants have a VERY strong odour, almost skunky. My partner’s son-in-law worked at a big grow op and would come home reeking of it and had to shower right away. That being said you can’t get high from the smell, the buds that are harvested have to be dried and heated before the THC is released.
It’s not made up-problem is centered in the town of Carpinteria-where there are some big pot farms and people are upset about the smell. Farmers there and in Santa Ynez are working very hard to alleviate the odor problem since it’s a big cash crop. Where H&M live is pretty far from there, so that they smell it is probably made up. I was in Montecito on Sunday, close to where they live and there is absolutely no problem with any smells. Carp is 10 miles south of them.
There is weed EVERYWHERE in California. I used to live behind a medical marijuana dispensary, I smelled that shit CONSTANTLY. I’m not surprised it’s being grown in Montecito and Santa Barbara too.
The smell is because they are smoking it though. The plant as is doesn’t smell, especially not in a greenhouse. The UK is still doing this because it’s not legal to grow it there so most people there don’t know any better, but if they ever get the pot greenhouses that are set up in Canada and the US, they would know this entire story is not possible.
The plant DEFINITELY smells, especially when it’s in direct sunlight. My friends are growing a couple plants (legally) and I can smell it on sunny days. That being said, Gregory is a drama queen. Having to pull over his car is ridiculous.
The plant reeks!!! It’s called skunk for a reason.
Jeez
Strains can smell like flowers too. I have one that smelled like orange blossoms and another that smelled like garlic. Others can smell like pine trees. There’s been a lot of breeding to find more desirable smells.
@Nic19 – oh the plants definitely smell — I commented above that my partner’s son-in-law worked at a legal grow op and he’d come home every day reeking and have to take a shower immediately. It’s a different smell that when people smoke it too, more pungent and skunky.
None of the farms are in Montecito. They are south in Carpinteria. There’s no smell in Montecito.
Or it could a lot of skunks in the area, they can smell a lot like weed and California is lousy with them. But whatever, marijuana is legal here.
You can smell it everywhere in New York City now just from people smoking and vaping. It’s legal!
So desperate.
So a ten minute drive, depending on the speed limit and the winding of the roads that could easily be six, eight, even ten miles away from their house. Non story.
Can I be vain and say these two look so smoking hot in these pictures that they might as well be high. Lol.
The British media need to seriously get a life and go do some follow up on Carole pot plantation and the rest of the royals they are paying for and not the California four that are financially independent.
Maybe the Middletons are about to be outed…lol.
@moderatelywealthy you aren’t the only one who thinks this is a coded warning to the Mids.
Lol.. let’s complain about the pistachio and olive farms also.. how dare farmers grow legal crops? Really wish they would just stick to there bitter racist isle and leave the Sussex’s alone. Contrary to British belief the Sussex’s are not at fault for all the worlds ills.
The article mentions that the pot is grown in greenhouses, so it’s not even like a regular crop. Pot greenhouses are highly secured and so I doubt you can smell anything related to the plants.
Meghan is from California. I’m sure weed in the air is a nonstory LMAO.
I’m going to keep telling this story because I want people to hear it. When I lived in San Francisco, I went and stayed with a good friend who worked in London and had lived in England for a long time. I went to a LOT of parties, bars, lunches. Etc. Every time I told people I was from San Francisco, there was an overwhelming reaction of: “oh wow that’s the dream” or “every English person dreams of running off to California.”
Now, this is not a scientific, sociological study by any means lol. But still. Meghan’s California-ness is a big problem for English jealousy and articles like this are sour grapes. Oh California isn’t all that, there are POT FARMS!!
I believe it! And for her to be FROM California instead of the “wannabe hollywood actress” they’ve been pushing…the things they would probably give to be able to sit on a California beach!
There are a ton of legal marijuana greenhouses in southwestern Ontario, especially near Leamington and the biggest issue they have with these heavily guarded greenhouses is that they project a light that is so bright it basically looks like the sky is on fire at night when the sun goes down. (The municipality is working on the light complaint because it can be seen from miles away)
They have not complained of an odour, mostly because these greenhouses are properly sealed, especially for winter weather. Also I have never heard of a pot plant smelling that much. It’s when you smoke it that it smells skunky or a bit like grass.
I also doubt an odour would be smelled from a place that is a ten minute drive away. Growing up in a rural area I have certainly smelled the farms that use pig manure but you notice it as you drive by, not ten minutes away.
Let’s get back to the Middleton pot farm, since that’s illegal in the Uk.
In a rural or semi rural area, it is not possible to be unaware of what your adjacent neighbour is doing unless you are intentionally being obtuse. Besides no place in the UK is that spread away from the other. It’s not Montana.
This story is a reach. I live within a couple of hours of Montecito. This is not happening. It would have hit the local news. Trust me Oprah, Ellen, Rob Lowe, and Gwyneth would have something to say that offended their noses. In addition, there is a college up in there. If this were a pollution issue it would be a big deal. Finally, my brother used to grow pot in his closet. You wouldn’t know it’s there unless you know it’s there. I call BS.
There’s been controversy about the pot smell in carpinteria for a few years. I personally don’t think it’s a big deal, but I do notice the smell when I’m in the more agricultural areas of carp. The cannabis farmers have been bending over backwards to make peace with the local residents, which is probably why this didn’t become a big kerfluffle.
@ Sophie. Yep, I live 15 mins from carpinteria and another 20-25 from Montecito. This whole area is hugely agricultural and things grow beautifully here. You def can smell pot when you take the backroads to Lake Casitas but yeah, as others have stated, you can’t get a contact high from the plant itself. Such a non issue. You can also smell the strawberries in Oxnard and Camarillo during strawberry season. While weed is definitely stronger and arguably unpleasant in comparison this article is just so ridiculous
I lived in SB for years and definitely smelled it just driving on the 101 — but through CARP ffs, not Montecito. Two different places!!! Miles apart from one another!!!!!
Wasn’t there a story back in the day when Harry got caught up smoking a joint and had to do a week of rehab or something ridiculous like that? OMG, is he relapsing??? lol.
Sorry, everything about this story makes me laugh, the fake concern, the unnecessary mention of the Sussexes, this man claiming to get high just by the smell…
Desperate measures across the pond. I swear, the BM/BRF/whoever else, would rather slide down a razor blade into a pool of alcohol yelling IT’S REEFER MADNESS that’s making Harry happy, instead of the simple truth. He’s happy because he found happiness with his wife and new life outside of the palace walls, which was his mother’s greatest wish.
It is very funny to see the local drama being reported on CB. Gregory is a drama queen! The smell is NOT that bad, nor would the smell of a cannabis plant affect someone’s ability to drive. There is absolutely no way h&m are smelling the carp grow operations. I live within 2 miles of a cannabis farm in SB county and we rarely smell it.
Santa Barbara is a weird combination of suburban and rural/agricultural. I used to live within walking distance of a shopping center, and our backyard abutted a farm. Carpinteria used to be a major source of cut flowers, but there is much more money to be made with cannabis, so lots of flower growers have switched over.
Marijuana is NOT a super profitable crop. The cost to grow it is insane and that’s not adding in the stress of it. There are so many hoops you have to jump through and red tape to deal with, it’s insane. We tried for a season after it was made legal and gave up. Back to traditional produce only
This is only sometimes the case.
Cannabis is a very hard plant to grow. You have to obsess over the nutrients, equipment, environmental science and the whole plant itself to know how to grow. Many people attempt and many do not succeed. It’s a 24/7 job and crops can fail leaving the growing in a financial spiral if they didn’t set aside funds or clones to continue. It takes years of reinvesting and commitment to make it commercially. Connections have to be made to sell. Paperwork has to be filed and paid for. There’s no hand holding on when taxes are due, but they will send you a notice of a penalty late fee to pay. And you might have to relocate 1000 feet down the road.
And with that and a strong work ethic anyone can grow and it is highly profitable.
They do live in a druggy neighborhood, the state of California. If you don’t want your neighbors growing weed, best to just not live here, cuz it’s legal for them to grow it and ain’t nonya damn business if they do.
I just came back from Jamaica and we visited several farms that included various “ganja crops” there was absolutely no smell from the growing plants.
There are different strains of pot, and the reek will be greater or lesser depending on which you grow. But I can’t believe this story in any case. There’s major money in Montecito, and major celebrities and power players, that could fight this issue effectively — if there were an issue. I haven’t seen anything about this in the LA Times, and if this were an issue in Montecito, there definitely would have been press coverage. In short: this is such a reach that MY shoulders hurt.
This headline though 😂
Cue the straight outta Compton-type stories to resurface 🙄
I’ve been on a pot farm and unless you are right down there with the plants, you don’t really smell anything. The plants are pungent but it’s not the same as a burning joint. I just don’t get the point of the story.
You probably do get the point of the story; you just can’t believe anyone wouldn’t see through this transparent nonsense.
They’re just getting so pathetic. Like why do they even care? Marijuana is legal in California.
This is some amazing projection from Camp Middleton.
I believe that pot farm was the Midds.
It was only said to be on the boarder of their property, but not said to be on anyone else’s. That sounds like right on the edge of their land.
It was in an old barn which the Midds said in an interview they had on their land and enjoyed walking the perimeter almost daily.
No cannabis facilities or growers are registered in Bucklebury or to the Midds. I can’t find if it’s flat out illegal or since 2018 has been legal for medical use, but not growing. Conflicting articles.
Uncle Gary can move pounds for a profit which the whole Middleton clan needs to stay afloat with Their various businesses sinking.
With how fast this story came and went and with how fast that barn was empty with no signs of life before the raid I’m guessing they were tipped off.
If the Midds truly had nothing to do with it wouldn’t they install better security? Or move?
Are they burning their crop ? No? Then, that’s not how it works…..
This reminds me of the story that claimed their house was build on sacred burial ground because Native American bones were found “close” to the property. Turns out those bones were found several miles away and it was literally a couple of bones found on land that was excavated. Then it something about irrigation on their property being from drawn illegally from some water table. It’s not. Now this. I don’t doubt there are some grow properties but how close/accurate is 10 minutes. Depending on speed traffic etc 10 minutes could be a pretty far distance. Also, agree with the above commenters. There is a difference between “open” grown and greenhouse grown plants and even the open grow don’t smell like smoked weed. Nor can you get a high from smell of plants just being grown in the area. We do know there are citrus plants on their property and in the area. That smell is probably as strong but the tabloids won’t be writing any stories about that.
The closest grow ops are in Carpinteria, *maybe* in Summerland. Land in Montecito itself is way too valuable. I live in an area with some massive outdoor grows less than 3 miles away and I don’t smell anything.
This is yet more fanfic.
Can you imagine the headlines if the Sussexes did invest in a pot farm? 🤦🏼♀️
Meghan’s half-brother was trying to get a pot farm off the ground by selling a strain he says is named after her called “Markle Sparkle.” I don’t believe he got anywhere with it.