I don’t think Northern California marijuana growers have much to worry about.

Pot pays the bills in this Northern California enclave, home to hippies and good old boys alike who espouse the weed’s curative and economic benefits. The expensive trucks, bustling restaurants, escalating rents and plentiful wads of cash all point to profitable pot cultivation in Humboldt.

Now, a state voter initiative on the November ballot that would make California the first U.S. state to legalize and tax this cash crop has locals jittery about losing their dominant market position.

“We’ve always had a cannabis tinge to our culture,” said Kevin Hoover, editor of weekly newspaper The Arcata Eye. “What we have now is a very entrenched industry that’s making a lot of money off the fact that it’s illegal.”

Starting in the 1960′s, free-thinkers wanting to get away from it all moved to the area long dominated by the lumber and fishing industries. Marijuana cultivation supported these new residents and newly unemployed blue-collar workers who watched the demise of Humboldt’s traditional manufacturing base.

Although the underground pot economy makes for poor statistics, Beth Wilson, an associate professor of economics at Humboldt State University, estimates the area’s annual income from marijuana at about $500 million.

The “multiplier effect” of that money circulated to support local businesses — garden centers do a brisk business and the town of Arcata’s sushi restaurant is always packed — could push that figure to $1 billion annually, she said.