Legal weed in trouble in California, illegal weed is taking over

[martybegan]

Or you just cut the crap and allow free cultivation for anyone who wants to smoke weed...Problem solved.

For personal use that should always be the case.

I don't begrudge local governments trying to tax the stuff REASONABLY when it is being sold commercially, but as usual they fucked it up by being greedy and stupid.

 

[Concerned American]

Video about the downfall of legal weed in California and resurgence of illegal weed.

Decriminalization is part of the problem as are taxes.

Did you foresee this?

BFD, are you surprised that CA wants to tax it? They would tax the air if they could get you to wear a meter. Seems stupid to me that they allow for recreational use and possession, but somehow they feel that cultivation is different. It is just another type of possession. Stupid fucking democrats.

 

[Polishprince]

They use a lot of electricity growing that crap, something like 37,000+ Kw hours versus a normal American household usage of 30 Kw hours over the same time period.

Power Consumption for Cannabis Growers - ElectricityPlans®

Grow room electricity for cannabis is 1% of all US power consumption. Find out why marijuana uses so much electricity. Legal in 31+ states.

electricityplans.com

According to the Northwest Power and Conservation Council (NPCC), indoor commercial cannabis production (also known as a cannabis grow room) can consume 2,000 to 3,000 kilowatt hours (kWh) of energy per pound of product.

What’s the Cost of Electricity to Grow Cannabis?​

Let’s do some quick math that shows how much you’ll spend on electricity to grow cannabis, also known as marijuana. For our example, we’ll use Massachusetts. This is one of the states where medical marijuana is legal, and electricity is deregulated. In Massachusetts, the average commercial/business price per kilowatt hour is 16.14 cents (EIA, April 2019). Burning through 3,000 kWh will run you around $484 (3,000 * .1614). According to industry resources, an ounce of marijuana in Massachusetts costs $340. That means a pound of marijuana would generate around $5,440 in retail revenue. So $484 in electricity for 3,000 kWh, to grow one pound of marijuana, generating $5,440 in retail revenue. (And don’t forget, these grow rooms are typically wholesalers, not retailers.)
That’s the amount and cost of electricity to produce just one pound of marijuana.

The criminal cost advantages:

Black-market marijuana is big business, even in states where pot's legal

Foreign gangs are finding that black-market marijuana is profitable even in states that have legalized cannabis.

www.nbcnews.com

A 'massive' marijuana network​

Federal officials allege that legal recreational marijuana states like California, Colorado and Washington, where enforcement of growing regulations is hit-or-miss, have been providing cover for transnational criminal organizations willing to invest big money to buy or rent property to achieve even bigger returns.

Chinese, Cuban and Mexican drug rings have purchased or rented hundreds of homes and use human trafficking to bring inexperienced growers to the United States to tend them, federal and local officials say.

...

In El Paso County, NBC News witnessed firsthand the damage a commercial-scale cannabis grow can do to a home otherwise built for an average American family. Growers pose as legitimate renters, and by the time authorities disrupt their operation, homes have been gutted and trashed.

"We've fallen through floors," U.S. Drug Enforcement Angecy Special Agent Randy Ladd said. "The electrical damage, they draw so much current that you'll see, in some places, the wires are fused inside of the electrical box. And — a lot of people — they don't wanna pay the high electric bills. So what they do is they take jackhammers and pickaxes and they cut through the foundation of the house, so that they could steal the power."

...
The workers often fly from China to Belgium, and from Belgium to Mexico, before making asylum claims at the border and then disappearing by the time they’re scheduled to tell their stories in court, Ladd said. Often when grow houses are raided, immigration fugitives are discovered, he said.

They wreck 10's of thousands of houses. Of course Burb Brat dopers could care less what kind of scum they're filling the pockets of.

Why would you need "indoor grow rooms" for grass? It grows well outside where the light, heat and water is essentially free.

There are already plenty of pot fields in Columbia, Mexico and other places where it can be grown and then shipped to the United States. I suppose local people can grow it if they want, but grass travels very well when compressed into bricks.

 

[DudleySmith]

Why would you need "indoor grow rooms" for grass? It grows well outside where the light, heat and water is essentially free.

There are already plenty of pot fields in Columbia, Mexico and other places where it can be grown and then shipped to the United States. I suppose local people can grow it if they want, but grass travels very well when compressed into bricks.

You think they only grow pot in the summer? They grow it year round. And, Columbian and Mexican weed are total shit compared to what the pro growers breed and produce.

 

[toobfreak]

That’s the amount and cost of electricity to produce just one pound of marijuana.

Not if you grow it outdoors, or in a greenhouse with only supplemental artificial light or use solar energy and panels.

 

[Woodznutz]

It's time for full federal legalization. It's rampant and Americans need it. They're overworked, underpaid, and stressed.

If that would take the crime, violence, and expensive law enforcement out of it I would agree.

 

[Concerned American]

If that would take the crime, violence, and expensive law enforcement out of it I would agree.

Fuck it. Make Fentanyl legal. Put it on every street corner in every democrat shithole in the US. Biden's supporters would be worm dirt inside of a year.

 

[Woodznutz]

Fuck it. Make Fentanyl legal. Put it on every street corner in every democrat shithole in the US. Biden's supporters would be worm dirt inside of a year.

It seems to be doing that now, to the tune of 100,000 deaths per year.

 

[Concerned American]

A

It seems to be doing that now, to the tune of 100,000 deaths per year.

And still they vote.

 

[Polishprince]

You think they only grow pot in the summer? They grow it year round. And, Columbian and Mexican weed are total shit compared to what the pro growers breed and produce.

There is no need for indoor growing as there are plenty of places in the Caribbean, Mexico, Columbia, etc., where it can be grown outdoors 12 months a year.

And since grass transports well from the fields to the bong, I just can't see the advantage to growing it year round in temperate climates.

 

[Concerned American]

And since grass transports well from the fields to the bong, I just can't see the advantage to growing it year round in temperate climates.

Transportation, import and taxation costs to just name a few.

 

[C_Clayton_Jones]

Video about the downfall of legal weed in California and resurgence of illegal weed.

Decriminalization is part of the problem as are taxes.

Did you foresee this?

The problem is the idiocy of Federal drug laws that keep marijuana illegal.

 

[Polishprince]

Transportation, import and taxation costs to just name a few.

I don't see that as that prohibitive of a cost that would make growing it here that much more economical.

After all, America imports plenty of inexpensive products from abroad already, including from places a lot further than Columbia.

Taxation is a different situation, but that's a tad artificial as there is no reason to tax foreign grass at a higher rate than domestic.


American farmland and indoor agricultural facilities would be more appropriately used for vegetables, eggs and other items which are more time sensitive and don't travel as well as pot.

 

[Concerned American]

I don't see that as that prohibitive of a cost that would make growing it here that much more economical.

After all, America imports plenty of inexpensive products from abroad already, including from places a lot further than Columbia.

Taxation is a different situation, but that's a tad artificial as there is no reason to tax foreign grass at a higher rate than domestic.


American farmland and indoor agricultural facilities would be more appropriately used for vegetables, eggs and other items which are more time sensitive and don't travel as well as pot.

You're off base here. The best thing that ever happened to pot in the US was legalization. The consumer cost came down about 400% average, due to cutting the black market out of it.

 

[Polishprince]

You're off base here. The best thing that ever happened to pot in the US was legalization. The consumer cost came down about 400% average, due to cutting the black market out of it.

I was unaware of that. I was under the impression that the price to pot heads in places with legal grass isn't much less than in places where the product was illegal.

I stand corrected if I am wrong.

 

[Concerned American]

I was unaware of that. I was under the impression that the price to pot heads in places with legal grass isn't much less than in places where the product was illegal.

I stand corrected if I am wrong.

Prior to legalization, prices were about $200/oz average. Now in far north WA state, ounces can be purchased in retail outlets for $65.

 

[Mashmont]

Video about the downfall of legal weed in California and resurgence of illegal weed.

Decriminalization is part of the problem as are taxes.

Did you foresee this?

Drug traffickers not following the rules? Well, knock me over with a feather!

 

[Concerned American]

For personal use that should always be the case.

I don't begrudge local governments trying to tax the stuff REASONABLY when it is being sold commercially, but as usual they fucked it up by being greedy and stupid.

Why limit it to personal use--let anyone join the regulated market and the market will set itself.

 

[Woodznutz]

You're off base here. The best thing that ever happened to pot in the US was legalization. The consumer cost came down about 400% average, due to cutting the black market out of it.

That is due to the huge oversupply of pot from all sources.

 

[Concerned American]

That is due to the huge oversupply of pot from all sources.

Capitalism has its advantages