So long incarceration, hello marijuana production facility – the future is now.

Late last week Ocean Grown Extracts was given four big thumbs up by the Coalinga City Council, voting 4 to 1 to allow OG Extracts to convert the city’s dormant prison into a state-of-the-art marijuana production facility.

Coughing up approximately $4.1 million for the city’s mothballed Clermont Custody Center, Ocean Grown Extracts (OGE) will be allowed to transform the once soul crushing structure into a facility that specializes in the manufacturing of their award-winning extracts and concentrates.

Hallelujah

According to the Fresno Bee, the Coalinga City Council officially gave the Green Light for the conversion last Thursday, putting the city back on the road to fiscal responsibility.

“This sale will immediately bring Coalinga’s general fund into the black. City Manager Marissa Trejo said Coalinga was $3.3 million to $3.8 million in debt.”

Poetic justice

The prison, long since vacated by the state of California, once housed over 500 state inmates and will now be the cultivation and extraction center of Ocean Grown Extracts. Committing to the employment of approximately 100 local residents at their newest facility, OGE anticipates being fully operational by the beginning of 2017.

Motivated by debt and the hopes of a greener tomorrow, this recent epiphany by a notoriously conservative city Council, represents, IMO, what will surely be a new trend in the Golden State after this November’s vote on legalizing recreational marijuana.