As vote looms, Northern California ponders how to peddle legal pot

Eureka, California (CNN) -- Tony Smithers has been answering a lot of questions lately about marijuana. Over coffee at Ramone's Bakery & Cafe, he was polite but mildly irked to be fielding queries about a substance the federal government outlaws.
Smithers, the Humboldt County Convention and Visitors Bureau's executive director, would rather talk about the county's other natural resources: its forests, its rolling mountains, its 110 miles of coastline.
But with legalization on a statewide November ballot and with Humboldt situated in the Emerald Triangle, so named for its massive marijuana output, there have been distractions of late.
"You see my card and my badge? They have a redwood, not a marijuana leaf," Smithers said with a chuckle as he sat down.
Figures for the region's marijuana economy are hazy, but drive through towns in Humboldt or Mendocino counties and it's easy to see marijuana's importance to regional commerce. Head and hemp shops sit alongside cafes and eateries, and niche businesses -- like glassblowers who specialize in smoking apparatuses -- are more common here than in cities 10 or 20 times the size.
Though Smithers touts Humboldt's timber, dairy and grass-fed beef, he readily admits that marijuana is his county's No. 1 export.
"Oh hell yeah, by a long shot," said Smithers, who has lived in Humboldt for 15 years. "It's the elephant in the room up here."