Meghan Markle is embroiled in fresh controversy with the Duchess of Sus𝓈ℯ𝓍’s new Netflix show filming on a cannabis farm, which has been linked to a feud with neighbours over its stench.
Fresh reports have revealed Meghan Markle’s new Netflix show is controversially filming on a cannabis farm, which has been linked to a feud over the crop’s stench.
The Sus𝓈ℯ𝓍es new “his and her” two-part project is currently in production with Netflix, and is set to lift the lift on the “joys of cooking, friend gardening, entertaining, friendship and professional polo”.
It forms part of the couple’s five-year $100 million deal with the streaming giant produced through their Archewell Productions banner.
The series will likely serve as a form of cross promotion for the Duchess of Sus𝓈ℯ𝓍’s new American Riviera Orchard product line.
The Daily Mail revealed the show’s second shooting location was taking place on pot farm in the small coastal California town of Carpinteria.
While filming, the farm’s owners David and Cindy Van Wingerden have been embroiled in a controversial “cannabis war” leaving wealthy residents, schools, and local businesses fuming over the crop’s strong stench looming over the Santa Barbara Country town.
The cannabis cultivators, with a property called Farmland, are one of the largest suppliers of legally produced cannabis in the area.
They sell cannabis flowers and pre-rolled cannabis joints.
Resident author and journalist Ann Louise Bardach said the odour from their plantation was “like a few dozen skunks letting loose at the same time”.
“And it just hangs in the air 24/7 on some days,” she said.
Bardach said the smell was more problematic when the crops are processed into highly concentrated cannabis oil.
“Some residents have respiratory illnesses now, asthma and weepy eyes,” she explained.
“It’s a bummer, as they say.”
It comes as California’s legalisation of recreational cannabis turned the Carpinteria Valley and parts of southern Santa Barbara County into one of the largest pot growing regions worldwide.
Bardach’s neighbour, French American dual citizen and artist John Heaton, said its “absurd” the affluent Santa Barbara County is now dubbed the “cannabis capital” of the US.
“Santa Barbara has always been known for its elegant and sporty lifestyle,” he said.
“The idea that it is now the cannabis capital of the US is not only absurd but also a threat to the century-old community that has crafted its image as a world-class destination.”
The Van Wingerden family farm is just a 16-minute drive from luxe Montecito where Meghan, 42, lives with husband Prince Harry, 39, and their two children Archie, four, and Lilibet, two.
Harry controversially revealed in his shock memoir Spare cannabis helped heal the trauma brought on by the death of his mother Princess Diana.
The Duke of Sus𝓈ℯ𝓍 has also admitted to using cocaine and psychedelic mushrooms.
