Big Weed: Ten Farms Could Supply All Of America With Marijuana

[Ron Strider]

When Washington State legalized recreational marijuana three years ago, it created a licensing regime that was supposed to protect and encourage small growers, but the data shows that marijuana growing has consolidated into a few large suppliers, even as the price per gram has fallen -- and that the industry's embrace of exotic derivatives like edibles and concentrates is capital-intensive and inaccessible to small, independent providers.

Recreational weed will be legal in California as of tomorrow, and the state is already the country's largest marijuana market, thanks to the loose rules around medical marijuana. With legal weed racing across the country, there's a real risk of the whole industry being captured by a few major firms -- the whole US market for THC could be provided with 10,000 acres' of cultivation acreage, about 10 Midwestern farms' worth.

The market for legal weed was already structurally unjust, with legal restrictions on the ability of people with drug records to participate in it -- and since the browner and poorer you are, the more likely you are to get convicted of drug offenses (even though rich white people are the most prolific American drug users), the market was off-limits to the population that was given the harshest treatment by the War on Some Drugs.

Current regulations keep pot farms from infinitely expanding, but as legalization marches forward, bigger farms could well be permitted. This summer, regulators in Washington expanded the maximum farm size from 30,000 square feet to 90,000. California plans on capping farms at 1 acre, or 43,560 square feet, when the market first launches. But the state rules do not currently stop farmers from using multiple licenses, which opens the door for larger farms.

What would happen if pot farms could be as large as wheat or corn fields? According to Caulkins, 10 reasonably sized farms could conceivably produce the entire country's supply of tetrahydrocannabinol, pot's most famous active chemical (usually shortened to THC).

"You can grow all of the THC consumed in the entire country on less than 10,000 acres," Caulkins said. "A common size for a Midwest farm is 1,000 acres."

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[LB07]

Great. Our weed is going to be Mexican brick weed, just grown in the Midwest on massive farms.

 

[Dwight Monk]

Great. Our weed is going to be Mexican brick weed, just grown in the Midwest on massive farms.

I don't see it being legal everywhere in the US let alone them allowing Interstate commerce for it anytime in the near future, so not a concern as has to be grown in the State it is sold in currently to be "legal". Could be an issue down the road, but it is way way way down the road IMHO.

 

[Nightmask]

I don't see it being legal everywhere in the US let alone them allowing Interstate commerce for it anytime in the near future, so not a concern as has to be grown in the State it is sold in currently to be "legal". Could be an issue down the road, but it is way way way down the road IMHO.

I'm not saying it will be in the 'near future' but if a huge corporation managed to set up on 10,000 acres and started producing enough cannabis to supply the whole country, which honestly wouldn't be very difficult if you're a massive corporation with loads of money, you can be damn sure they would lobby (bribe) the heck out of the government to legalize it (atleast for a massive corporation to grow it, not for the lowly peons to grow) so they could make massive monopoly moneys. If say Amazon got into the weed business and bought out dozens/hundreds of cannabis companies from seed to sale and they could supply (and profit) from millions of people they would absolutely pay off the government to legalize it not just for interstate commerce but global commerce.

Big governments and corporations do not care about the people. They care about the status quo of power, profit, and control. Honestly I wouldn't be surprised if in a few years 'Big Weed' consists of just a handful of companies (like Big Pharma, Big Agri, Big Food, etc) who bribe the heck out the government to give them almost monopoly rights over the whole cannabis plant (GMO cannabis seeds anyone?) while making it too expensive and full of red tape for a 'Mom and Pop' small business to compete and making it illegal for people to grow their own or by putting in 'grow limits' so people can only grow say 2 plants at a time.

Status Quo. Power, profit, and control.