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Residents near Prince Harry and Meghan Markle's Montecito home, who live in Santa Barbara, California, are "alarmed" at the prospect of a 24/7 cannabis cultivation farm in operation at Valley Crest Farms in Carpinteria. It comes as Santa Barbara County authorities are in the process of cracking down on excessive cannabis odours throughout the region after more than 2,500 complaints since 2020, according to local outlet the Montecito Journal.

Santa Barbara news outlet, Siteline, wrote of their "surprise" to see "a proposed change of operational hours to 24 hours/day, seven days/week for cannabis cultivation and processing" at Valley Crest Farms.

They further wrote, "The Planning and Development Department director's approval is being appealed by residents who are understandably alarmed at the prospect of a 24-7 cannabis operation in their midst", stating "Valley Crest is already the defendant in a class-action lawsuit over the stench it produces."

According to Siteline, residents are plotting to overturn the decision and encouraging residents to email any objections they may have to an address specified on the outlet.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle who moved to the US four years ago after stepping down from their duties as senior royals, live in an £11million home in Montecito with their two children, Prince Archie and Princess Lilibet, but it appears their location is not as idyllic as you'd imagine it to be.

Although odour strength studies have downplayed the level of cannabis detectable in local air, residents in Carpinteria Valley, a small seaside town eight miles outside Montecito, have described the stench as "intolerable", reports the Montecito Journal.

According to the Daily Mail, which also reported on the pungent smell possibly caused by cannabis farms, one resident told the Mail's Richard Eden how he thought "something [had] died in the basement' - until, that is, he remembered he didn't have a basement."

A class-action lawsuit against Valley Crest was filed at the Santa Barbara Courthouse in 2023 by the Santa Barbara Coalition for Responsible Cannabis, states a report.

Valley Crest, a nine-acre "grow" at 5890 Casitas Pass Road, has been harvesting cannabis every week for more than five years, the plaintiffs say.

In court documents, the group seeks relief from what they describe as the "awful smells and noxious odors and chemicals that they are being assaulted with on a daily basis in their homes."

They claim the stench of cannabis, they allege, has lowered their property values, driven away their tenants, reduced their business incomes, and interfered with "the quiet use and enjoyment of their property."

In court documents, Valley Crest's attorneys called the plaintiffs' arguments for class action "wildly over-broad". The report states a jury trial in the case has been scheduled for March 5, 2026, if it is not settled before then.