The only people who go to [Humboldt] dispensaries are people who either: A) are new to town and don't know anyone yet... OR B) have burnt all their bridges in town and the only one who will still sell to them is a dispensary.
this is mostly true, and substitute 'buy from' for 'sell to' for another look at the issue.
the thing is, as it has always been in Humby, the inner circle doesnt easily let the newbys in. This is still true at the clubs. Those guys have some top notch strains, but you have to impress them to get access.
being a college student there in the early 90's, i saw how protective people were about their sources. Medical was not quickly welcomed by the career growers. I remember in '97 when the first medically legal crops were gong out, the group in Honeydew put out 10 in the full sun, viewable from the road. In those days, when the helicopters came for weed, they would hit everyone in the area, so the neighbors of the med scene were hella pissed. That 10 plant crop did get CAMPed, and so did some surrounding crops. The scene has changed a lot since then. We used to hide our low number crops in the partial shade & walk jugs of water to them because we were scared of water lines leading to them. These days CAMP is too busy pulling crops in the tens of thousands from public land, and they dont get to too many private scenes. The supply volume has gone through the roof, but pulling off a big, high quality crop is harder than almost anyone would believe, so quality has slipped over all. My experience with clubs is limited, but they mostly seem like they are just there for a come up... but that rant is another post!