In Waukeenah, Florida, the landscape has shifted dramatically. Once known for watermelon farms and cattle pastures, this small town now draws attention for a different reason: the distinct smell of marijuana emanating from a Trulieve grow facility.
Since Trulieve, a leader in the cannabis industry, began cultivating marijuana in 2020, local residents have voiced concerns. They objected to the odor, the noise from machinery, and the bright lights at night. These grievances, however, had gone largely unnoticed in rural Jefferson County, not far from Tallahassee.
The situation changed when a Facebook video surfaced. This spring, a relative of Felicia and James Lamb posted a video showing greenish water flowing from Trulieve’s property onto theirs. The video’s impact was immediate, galvanizing community opposition against Trulieve. The company’s influential CEO recently convinced President Trump to reclassify medical marijuana as a less dangerous substance.
“It was shocking to people,” explained Felicia Lamb. “People had heard about the runoff, but witnessing it was different.”
The video prompted residents to attend Jefferson County commission meetings in large numbers. They voiced their displeasure over the smell and expressed concerns that runoff from the vast one-million-square-foot indoor cannabis facility might be contaminating the soil. Trulieve representatives maintain that the water is harmless, claiming it consists of normal runoff that historically flowed into the Lamb property before the establishment of their “cultivation campus.”
Despite these reassurances, tension between Trulieve and the community continues. The Lambs, whose property borders the cultivation site, have been particularly affected, with the company erecting a privacy wall along their boundary.