Whitewashing the Green Rush
March 17, 2016 7:07 AM Subscribe
Doesn't it sort of make sense to create a loophole for the now-legal activity you're applying to do?
"I know how to grow weed."
"Yeah, but you got caught doing it before it was legal, so it's still illegal for you."
That reeks of stupid.
posted by Mooski at 7:19 AM on March 17, 2016 [25 favorites]
"I know how to grow weed."
"Yeah, but you got caught doing it before it was legal, so it's still illegal for you."
That reeks of stupid.
posted by Mooski at 7:19 AM on March 17, 2016 [25 favorites]
Legalize it nationwide, and expunge all criminal records for possession and possession with intent to distribute. It won't solve everything, but it'll be a good start.
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:20 AM on March 17, 2016 [47 favorites]
posted by Faint of Butt at 7:20 AM on March 17, 2016 [47 favorites]
Legalizing marijuana sounds revolutionary, but with every day that passes, the same class of rich white men that control all other industries are tightening their grip on this one, snatching up licenses and real estate and preparing for a windfall
One of the weirdest things about the present is seeing a sentence like this one in a mainstream, widely-read publication. For most of my life, "the same class of rich white men who control all other industries" was a phrase you would only have read in, like, Z magazine or a fanzine of some kind. And if you said it out loud, people would think you were some kind of discipline case. I just hope that the mainstreaming of the message someday leads to some actual change of conditions.
posted by Frowner at 7:29 AM on March 17, 2016 [92 favorites]
One of the weirdest things about the present is seeing a sentence like this one in a mainstream, widely-read publication. For most of my life, "the same class of rich white men who control all other industries" was a phrase you would only have read in, like, Z magazine or a fanzine of some kind. And if you said it out loud, people would think you were some kind of discipline case. I just hope that the mainstreaming of the message someday leads to some actual change of conditions.
posted by Frowner at 7:29 AM on March 17, 2016 [92 favorites]
Chin wagging with some FB grow folks and what is interesting is the amount of equipment being pawned for a variety of reasons. Not just in Michigan. Ths can led to supply disruption and people foisting the snicklefritz which is always bad.
Interesting article, the premise seems valid but I've never seen discrimination, doesn't preclude obviously.
Some of my best freinds grow weed.
posted by clavdivs at 7:43 AM on March 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
Interesting article, the premise seems valid but I've never seen discrimination, doesn't preclude obviously.
Some of my best freinds grow weed.
posted by clavdivs at 7:43 AM on March 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
Medicinal weed dispensaries are cropping up like, well, weeds, here in Canada. Often there will be a lengthy news article about them and to a one, it's all clean cut white guys with college educations who see a business opportunity and a niche to be filled. There's even a place in Toronto where the owners make it clear it's about a certain kind of high end lifestyle that just happens to involve smoking weed and thus accordingly sell very chic accoutrements for doing so.
posted by Kitteh at 7:49 AM on March 17, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by Kitteh at 7:49 AM on March 17, 2016 [4 favorites]
Just wait until the big ag guys jump in. Already, I know a bunch of farmers, greenhouse growers, and assorted industry folks who are looking at this market and licking their chops. The higgledy-piggledy patchwork of legal issues is the only thing that has kept many of them out so far.
posted by Chrischris at 7:54 AM on March 17, 2016 [5 favorites]
posted by Chrischris at 7:54 AM on March 17, 2016 [5 favorites]
Well. This is my surprised face.
posted by town of cats at 7:55 AM on March 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by town of cats at 7:55 AM on March 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
Have I mentioned my theory about brick-and-mortar vape shops before? They're all over the place, seemingly far too many to account for demand. I believe that they're all basically just placeholders, just waiting for prohibition repeal, and on that very day they're all going to switch over to dispensing marijuana.
posted by Faint of Butt at 8:04 AM on March 17, 2016 [57 favorites]
posted by Faint of Butt at 8:04 AM on March 17, 2016 [57 favorites]
Have I mentioned my theory about brick-and-mortar vape shops before? They're all over the place, seemingly far too many to account for demand. I believe that they're all basically just placeholders, just waiting for prohibition repeal, and on that very day they're all going to switch over to dispensing marijuana.
There's one in my suburb that has closed and reopened at least three times in the last three years. Your theory makes a lot more sense than the apparent "Yeah, but my vape shop will succeed in the exact same place that some other guy's vape shop failed within a year!" motif.
posted by Etrigan at 8:06 AM on March 17, 2016 [7 favorites]
There's one in my suburb that has closed and reopened at least three times in the last three years. Your theory makes a lot more sense than the apparent "Yeah, but my vape shop will succeed in the exact same place that some other guy's vape shop failed within a year!" motif.
posted by Etrigan at 8:06 AM on March 17, 2016 [7 favorites]
David Bruno, an architect of the failed 2015 legalization initiative in Ohio, told BuzzFeed News last fall that he had recently hired, for a cannabis-related company, someone who has a clean record but 20 years of experience growing weed illegally. Both Bruno and the man he hired are white. As for the many black marijuana growers who — in part because of discriminatory policing — did not escape that era with a clean record, Bruno has little sympathy.posted by XMLicious at 8:08 AM on March 17, 2016 [3 favorites]
“There’s not going to be a clean bill of health for anyone that was active and got caught,” Bruno said. “Those things are not going to happen. There’s a cost of reform and revolution. We’re not a nice society, and there’s not going to be reparations.”
Christ, what an asshole.
posted by Faint of Butt at 8:09 AM on March 17, 2016 [20 favorites]
posted by Faint of Butt at 8:09 AM on March 17, 2016 [20 favorites]
Have I mentioned my theory about brick-and-mortar vape shops before? They're all over the place, seemingly far too many to account for demand. I believe that they're all basically just placeholders, just waiting for prohibition repeal, and on that very day they're all going to switch over to dispensing marijuana.
It's very kind of their landlords to give them free rent until then
posted by beerperson at 8:10 AM on March 17, 2016
It's very kind of their landlords to give them free rent until then
posted by beerperson at 8:10 AM on March 17, 2016
From Kitteh's linked article about an upscale Toronto smoke shop:
“I don’t think there is a home for someone who’s buying Mast Brothers chocolate and drinking the nicest coffee to have a similar experience in pot,” says Gertner, who quit his job at Google to launch the brand."
How delightfully self-satirizing!
posted by loquacious crouton at 8:17 AM on March 17, 2016 [23 favorites]
“I don’t think there is a home for someone who’s buying Mast Brothers chocolate and drinking the nicest coffee to have a similar experience in pot,” says Gertner, who quit his job at Google to launch the brand."
How delightfully self-satirizing!
posted by loquacious crouton at 8:17 AM on March 17, 2016 [23 favorites]
Yeah, I get that that guy wants to make pot smoking look less, I dunno, hippie or "criminal," but I was like, "Wow, you've made your idea of pot smoking like the most asshole thing I can think of."
posted by Kitteh at 8:22 AM on March 17, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by Kitteh at 8:22 AM on March 17, 2016 [6 favorites]
Farm-to-Dispensary: how the artisanal marijuana trend is taking over Brooklyn
posted by naju at 8:23 AM on March 17, 2016 [21 favorites]
posted by naju at 8:23 AM on March 17, 2016 [21 favorites]
There are lots of vape shops in the UK, too - in fact, there are two within a couple of minutes of where I am in Edinburgh - and there's no hint of legalisation in the air, sad to say.
So I think that myth is busted.
As for the subject of the fpp, institutional discrimination is frequently laced with cruel irony. This is especially bad, though. You'd hope a black president wtih a history of tokin' would get on the case, but, eh, don't hold your breath. (Well do, but exhale before you choke.)
posted by Devonian at 8:26 AM on March 17, 2016 [3 favorites]
So I think that myth is busted.
As for the subject of the fpp, institutional discrimination is frequently laced with cruel irony. This is especially bad, though. You'd hope a black president wtih a history of tokin' would get on the case, but, eh, don't hold your breath. (Well do, but exhale before you choke.)
posted by Devonian at 8:26 AM on March 17, 2016 [3 favorites]
I've done some serious on-the-ground research into the different dispensaries in Portland and I can report that I do see diversity among budtenders (the people working the counter). The people managing/running businesses though do seem to all be white though. It's really just a reflection of our overall society though, people with dark skin are treated unfairly, targeted by police, less likely to get business loans, etc.
There is at least a logical (though shitty) reason; in that minorities are unfairly targeted by the War on Drugs so they're more likely to have felonies that exclude them from working with cannabis. The laws will hopefully relax, depending on our next president, with time to allow more people into this industry.
Would prefer to see Buzzfeed tackle the lack of diversity in the tech or banking "industries."
posted by Locobot at 8:40 AM on March 17, 2016 [3 favorites]
There is at least a logical (though shitty) reason; in that minorities are unfairly targeted by the War on Drugs so they're more likely to have felonies that exclude them from working with cannabis. The laws will hopefully relax, depending on our next president, with time to allow more people into this industry.
Would prefer to see Buzzfeed tackle the lack of diversity in the tech or banking "industries."
posted by Locobot at 8:40 AM on March 17, 2016 [3 favorites]
Medical marijuana cards generally allow for growing your own and selling excess to dispensaries. I assume that full legalisation would have similar allowances?
But, yeah, I'm not excited to learn how capitalism intends to ruin legal weed. And any legalisation that doesn't include releasing everyone currently imprisoned for marijuana offences and expunging the records of marijuana offenders is absolute bullshit.
posted by tobascodagama at 8:41 AM on March 17, 2016 [4 favorites]
But, yeah, I'm not excited to learn how capitalism intends to ruin legal weed. And any legalisation that doesn't include releasing everyone currently imprisoned for marijuana offences and expunging the records of marijuana offenders is absolute bullshit.
posted by tobascodagama at 8:41 AM on March 17, 2016 [4 favorites]
"foisting the snicklefritz" is my new mantra, my new band name, my new ... everything
posted by runincircles at 8:44 AM on March 17, 2016 [8 favorites]
posted by runincircles at 8:44 AM on March 17, 2016 [8 favorites]
Mod note: A few comments deleted. I can't tell what's parody and what's not anymore, please make it clearer if you're doing something other than picking a weird fight, and on the flip side if you think someone's being awful just flag them rather than trying to focus the thread on them.
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 8:47 AM on March 17, 2016 [4 favorites]
posted by LobsterMitten (staff) at 8:47 AM on March 17, 2016 [4 favorites]
The Ohio plan was basically "Christ what assholes" all over. The idea was that they were going to legalize growing it only on specific pre-selected parcels of land. This was an amendment to the state constitution and they completely openly promised all of those designated parcels to people who put money into the campaign. Through LLCs, of course, guaranteeing that nobody would have to know who those donors were if they didn't want to be known. They literally just tried to buy themselves a constitutionally-protected oligopoly. And they did so in competition with a medicinal marijuana campaign that was trying to get onto the ballot at the same time. Now, somehow their plan got enough signatures, and the one without millions of dollars in fundinginvestment didn't. Go figure.
It was really just flat out terrifying to think about what this means for the future, even if it didn't pass this time. David Bruno openly wants this to be about lining his own pockets; liberty and justice aren't even factors in his decision-making. I get the inclination to want to keep things "local". But around here, that very nearly meant a selection of already-rich people, almost all white, almost all men, including a lot of people whose only credentials involved owning "investment firms", and an owner of a really classy payday loan chain called CashMAX. One of them made a Youtube video pitching it that said they expected a "tsunami of money". Not just a boatload, folks! TSUNAMI.
Definitely people I trust to produce psychoactive substances for public consumption. Yes. Absolutely. Seriously, though, it's a big thing and I'm concerned that down the line, we're going to look back and think, yeah, so, we just let the new Big Tobacco assemble itself without a peep of complaint. I mean, one of the investors was a company that owns campus housing around here that sells itself with "free tanning". I'm just waiting to see how the next plan turns evil. It's going to be something.
posted by Sequence at 8:59 AM on March 17, 2016 [27 favorites]
It was really just flat out terrifying to think about what this means for the future, even if it didn't pass this time. David Bruno openly wants this to be about lining his own pockets; liberty and justice aren't even factors in his decision-making. I get the inclination to want to keep things "local". But around here, that very nearly meant a selection of already-rich people, almost all white, almost all men, including a lot of people whose only credentials involved owning "investment firms", and an owner of a really classy payday loan chain called CashMAX. One of them made a Youtube video pitching it that said they expected a "tsunami of money". Not just a boatload, folks! TSUNAMI.
Definitely people I trust to produce psychoactive substances for public consumption. Yes. Absolutely. Seriously, though, it's a big thing and I'm concerned that down the line, we're going to look back and think, yeah, so, we just let the new Big Tobacco assemble itself without a peep of complaint. I mean, one of the investors was a company that owns campus housing around here that sells itself with "free tanning". I'm just waiting to see how the next plan turns evil. It's going to be something.
posted by Sequence at 8:59 AM on March 17, 2016 [27 favorites]
This was an amendment to the state constitution and they completely openly promised all of those designated parcels to people who put money into the campaign. Through LLCs, of course, guaranteeing that nobody would have to know who those donors were if they didn't want to be known. They literally just tried to buy themselves a constitutionally-protected oligopoly.
See, this really, really frightens me, deep down in my doggy soul. I mean, there's always been back-room deals, gerrymandering and general good ol' boy bullshit, but this is literally creating a government that is constitutionally by and for rich white people.
You can't fix the system when it's being re-written to prevent fixing.
posted by Mooski at 9:09 AM on March 17, 2016 [9 favorites]
See, this really, really frightens me, deep down in my doggy soul. I mean, there's always been back-room deals, gerrymandering and general good ol' boy bullshit, but this is literally creating a government that is constitutionally by and for rich white people.
You can't fix the system when it's being re-written to prevent fixing.
posted by Mooski at 9:09 AM on March 17, 2016 [9 favorites]
Plenty of white people who have historically made their living in the marijuana space are going to find themselves shut out of the legal industry, too.
In California, local jurisdictions can still ban both cultivation and distribution, or write legislation that can still be extremely restrictive.
Even in cities that have an "evolved" relationship with medical marijuana, like San Francisco, permits seem to be issued on a very clubby basis, effectively excluding many would-be entrepreneurs.
All this means, that even when marijuana is "legal", plenty of people will still find themselves being charged with mariijauna-related crimes.
posted by littlejohnnyjewel at 9:20 AM on March 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
In California, local jurisdictions can still ban both cultivation and distribution, or write legislation that can still be extremely restrictive.
Even in cities that have an "evolved" relationship with medical marijuana, like San Francisco, permits seem to be issued on a very clubby basis, effectively excluding many would-be entrepreneurs.
All this means, that even when marijuana is "legal", plenty of people will still find themselves being charged with mariijauna-related crimes.
posted by littlejohnnyjewel at 9:20 AM on March 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
There's one in my suburb that has closed and reopened at least three times in the last three years. Your theory makes a lot more sense than the apparent "Yeah, but my vape shop will succeed in the exact same place that some other guy's vape shop failed within a year!" motif.
Kratom sales are single-handily keeping a lot of them in business, at least in central Florida. One of the owners estimates that 90% of her sales is Kratom. Once marijuana is legalized, the switch would happen as quickly as possible.
Also, one of our biggest and most vocal proponents of marijuana legalization in Orlando has been quietly purchasing smoke shops around the city.
posted by synthetik at 10:02 AM on March 17, 2016 [3 favorites]
Kratom sales are single-handily keeping a lot of them in business, at least in central Florida. One of the owners estimates that 90% of her sales is Kratom. Once marijuana is legalized, the switch would happen as quickly as possible.
Also, one of our biggest and most vocal proponents of marijuana legalization in Orlando has been quietly purchasing smoke shops around the city.
posted by synthetik at 10:02 AM on March 17, 2016 [3 favorites]
The Ohio plan was basically "Christ what assholes" all over.
The Hawaii plan is also a racket. There will be eight licenses, and each license will cover growing, harvesting, distributing, and selling the pot. It will give complete control of the trade to eight individuals.
I guess this will technically make the statistics less "white," though it will be the same b.s. as on the mainland.
posted by kanewai at 10:23 AM on March 17, 2016 [3 favorites]
The Hawaii plan is also a racket. There will be eight licenses, and each license will cover growing, harvesting, distributing, and selling the pot. It will give complete control of the trade to eight individuals.
I guess this will technically make the statistics less "white," though it will be the same b.s. as on the mainland.
posted by kanewai at 10:23 AM on March 17, 2016 [3 favorites]
"the same class of rich white men who control all other industries" was a phrase you would only have read in, like, Z magazine or a fanzine of some kind. And if you said it out loud, people would think you were some kind of discipline case. I just hope that the mainstreaming of the message someday leads to some actual change of conditions.
which is why every bourgeois journalist is running to race bait every possible angle. in my county, it's the scion of the local heating oil/excavation/real estate mafia who is angling a retail business ahead of legalization in MA. but that's how all business works. you have to have capital to be a capitalist. white people have the capital, hugely so.
posted by ennui.bz at 10:34 AM on March 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
which is why every bourgeois journalist is running to race bait every possible angle. in my county, it's the scion of the local heating oil/excavation/real estate mafia who is angling a retail business ahead of legalization in MA. but that's how all business works. you have to have capital to be a capitalist. white people have the capital, hugely so.
posted by ennui.bz at 10:34 AM on March 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
I know some farmers here in North Dakota that have been fighting to grow hemp for decades. I have no doubt that when this state enters into the 21st Century it will be because some vested corporate interest has a way to make a buck off it, not because family farms need it.
posted by Ber at 10:40 AM on March 17, 2016 [6 favorites]
posted by Ber at 10:40 AM on March 17, 2016 [6 favorites]
The only thing I'm surprised about here, is that so many people are surprised that this would be the end result of legalization. They seemed to think that somehow a major cash crop wouldn't be treated the same way tobacco was.
Seriously, what did you expect?
posted by happyroach at 11:19 AM on March 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
Seriously, what did you expect?
posted by happyroach at 11:19 AM on March 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
If Clinton gets the nomination, it'll be interesting to see where she goes on the legalization issue. Bill's administration never seemed too warm on the idea (no matter how much lip service the Democratic party paid to the idea of rehabilitation over punishment for drug offenders), and there's no reason the next incoming president has to honor the Obama administration's (relatively) softer hand on respecting the state's authority to carve out exceptions to the Federal prohibitions. All the current dispensaries are basically running under executive fiat, since the Federal law still prohibits them, but it's been Obama's policy not to raid/shut down all of them...
The racial politics here are depressingly predictable, given the history of land ownership/farming in the US. Here's that structural racism imp sticking it's tongue out at everybody again.
posted by saulgoodman at 11:34 AM on March 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
The racial politics here are depressingly predictable, given the history of land ownership/farming in the US. Here's that structural racism imp sticking it's tongue out at everybody again.
posted by saulgoodman at 11:34 AM on March 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
If only marijuana could be treated the same way tobacco was...
posted by littlejohnnyjewel at 11:52 AM on March 17, 2016
posted by littlejohnnyjewel at 11:52 AM on March 17, 2016
So the biggest problem with white people and insider interests hijacking marijuana production and distribution post-legalization is that rich white people and insider interests are hijacking marijuana production and distribution.
but one small but particularly galling problem is that by hijacking marijuana production and distribution, rich white insiders are proving all of the absolutely most annoying anti-legalization stoners right. Dammit. I don't want those guys to be right about everything!
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 12:07 PM on March 17, 2016 [3 favorites]
but one small but particularly galling problem is that by hijacking marijuana production and distribution, rich white insiders are proving all of the absolutely most annoying anti-legalization stoners right. Dammit. I don't want those guys to be right about everything!
posted by You Can't Tip a Buick at 12:07 PM on March 17, 2016 [3 favorites]
So, to give a perspective from someone who actually administers the ground level development and permitting of legal pot shops (In Oregon)-
Potheads are potheads. I have dealt with a LOT (the majority) of dealers turning into legitimate businessmen who have NO idea how to navigate the bureaucracy (even with very helpful staff and clear instructions), no idea how to accomplish the basics of signing a business lease, renovating a store front, meeting basic building and environmental codes and all the things a regular business deals with. This has also been true with the growing side. A lot of them started out renting cheap industrial business space (kinda like a self storage unit) and then violating just about every fire related code running their grow ops in places not meant for it. then they realize they rented a space without plumbing and start using the storm drains for disposing of their nasty water and polluting rivers and streams and just fouling up everything with huge amounts of fertilizer and pesticides. The state ag departments have had to step in a few cases when 'legitimate' grow ops were discovered using banned pesticides and herbicides in huge amounts.
So it makes sense that people who have experience in running businesses and at least trying to meet codes close enough to not attract attention are taking over the businesses from people whose only business acumen was operating in the black market.
posted by bartonlong at 12:28 PM on March 17, 2016 [18 favorites]
Potheads are potheads. I have dealt with a LOT (the majority) of dealers turning into legitimate businessmen who have NO idea how to navigate the bureaucracy (even with very helpful staff and clear instructions), no idea how to accomplish the basics of signing a business lease, renovating a store front, meeting basic building and environmental codes and all the things a regular business deals with. This has also been true with the growing side. A lot of them started out renting cheap industrial business space (kinda like a self storage unit) and then violating just about every fire related code running their grow ops in places not meant for it. then they realize they rented a space without plumbing and start using the storm drains for disposing of their nasty water and polluting rivers and streams and just fouling up everything with huge amounts of fertilizer and pesticides. The state ag departments have had to step in a few cases when 'legitimate' grow ops were discovered using banned pesticides and herbicides in huge amounts.
So it makes sense that people who have experience in running businesses and at least trying to meet codes close enough to not attract attention are taking over the businesses from people whose only business acumen was operating in the black market.
posted by bartonlong at 12:28 PM on March 17, 2016 [18 favorites]
institutional discrimination is frequently laced with cruel irony
That is an eloquent description of "structural racism." Which is what this is. It makes a fine teaching example of the broader argument. It joins some of my other favorites (I get to teach this concept regularly), of which the most important is the way modern pop music genre categories and their associated practices and cultures, although now "voluntarily" segregated, are direct consequences of the segregated society in which the pop music recording business arose. And the great doozy of them all, the simple mechanism of making school funding dependent on property taxes.
posted by spitbull at 2:23 PM on March 17, 2016 [3 favorites]
That is an eloquent description of "structural racism." Which is what this is. It makes a fine teaching example of the broader argument. It joins some of my other favorites (I get to teach this concept regularly), of which the most important is the way modern pop music genre categories and their associated practices and cultures, although now "voluntarily" segregated, are direct consequences of the segregated society in which the pop music recording business arose. And the great doozy of them all, the simple mechanism of making school funding dependent on property taxes.
posted by spitbull at 2:23 PM on March 17, 2016 [3 favorites]
Oh and the great irony here is that when prohibition ended, the mob family operations that had been running the illegal booze trade in the US just moved right into the legal, legitimate business they had always been in. The biggest wholesalers in the Northeast and Midwest and West Coast all have family ties to the (mostly Irish and Italian and Jewish) mobs that preceded them. Plenty of them had faced legal consequences during prohibition.
posted by spitbull at 2:25 PM on March 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by spitbull at 2:25 PM on March 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
“Hi, I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.”
posted by fraxil at 2:47 PM on March 17, 2016
posted by fraxil at 2:47 PM on March 17, 2016
Code of Colorado Regulations
R 231-C-8
...except that the State Licensing Authority may grant a license to a Person if the Person has a state felony conviction based on possession or use of marijuana or marijuana concentrate that would not be a felony if the Person were convicted of the offense on the date he or she applied for a license
posted by porpoise at 3:38 PM on March 17, 2016 [3 favorites]
R 231-C-8
...except that the State Licensing Authority may grant a license to a Person if the Person has a state felony conviction based on possession or use of marijuana or marijuana concentrate that would not be a felony if the Person were convicted of the offense on the date he or she applied for a license
posted by porpoise at 3:38 PM on March 17, 2016 [3 favorites]
Sorry, that should be subsection "D" for Occupational Licenses. "C" is for Associated Key Licenses/Owners, but the provision stands.
Having been convicted of a felony possession marijuana in no way bars one from working in the legal industry in Colorado.
posted by porpoise at 4:11 PM on March 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
Having been convicted of a felony possession marijuana in no way bars one from working in the legal industry in Colorado.
posted by porpoise at 4:11 PM on March 17, 2016 [1 favorite]
Here in Maryland there's a hydroponic supply shop that just opened in a shopping center that, if you ask them, will say they are encouraging hydroponics for basil and parsley and children's science projects.
posted by acrasis at 4:59 PM on March 17, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by acrasis at 4:59 PM on March 17, 2016 [2 favorites]
Just wait until the big ag guys jump in. Already, I know a bunch of farmers, greenhouse growers, and assorted industry folks who are looking at this market and licking their chops. The higgledy-piggledy patchwork of legal issues is the only thing that has kept many of them out so far.
I know of a few medium-big farmers (like with 10,000 acres, not conglomerate-sized land) who almost certainly plan to jump in as soon as the acreage restrictions are lifted by the state, and they can be sure that growing weed will not threaten their federal crop subsidies and insurance. It's a crop like any other, and there is no reason that it needs to be grown by stoners other than the current climate is pushing it.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:41 PM on March 17, 2016 [2 favorites]
I know of a few medium-big farmers (like with 10,000 acres, not conglomerate-sized land) who almost certainly plan to jump in as soon as the acreage restrictions are lifted by the state, and they can be sure that growing weed will not threaten their federal crop subsidies and insurance. It's a crop like any other, and there is no reason that it needs to be grown by stoners other than the current climate is pushing it.
posted by Dip Flash at 5:41 PM on March 17, 2016 [2 favorites]
Having been convicted of a felony possession marijuana in no way bars one from working in the legal industry in Colorado.
That's good to hear. Colorado seems to have been the sensible state with regards to legalization so far. But still, there's like what, 8 black people total in Colorado?
posted by Panjandrum at 6:08 PM on March 17, 2016 [2 favorites]
That's good to hear. Colorado seems to have been the sensible state with regards to legalization so far. But still, there's like what, 8 black people total in Colorado?
posted by Panjandrum at 6:08 PM on March 17, 2016 [2 favorites]
Nthing the "go Colorado go" legalization. They seem to be the model we should be aspiring to in our own states. Smart people in charge up in the Rockies.
And yeah, the anti-legalization stoner? Take away the stoner part, and you pretty much pegged my feelings on it. I don't want to be the guy who says it's all gonna end up in the hands of big ag and corrupt-as-all-hell local networks, but when has cynicism about access to power ever proven me wrong?
Burn 'em all down? Nah. Referendums to price cap, remove barriers to licensing, and regulate the sweet living bejesus out of grower and distributor monopolies? Yes please. Let the ag barons tear down the psuedo-Christian anti-minority prison-industrial BS we have in place now, then move in before they've captured the new regulators and vote them into oblivion. You weed moguls, you future Republican diehards, come to daddy.
I'm not even stoned and I sound like I keep my savings in Bitcoin. Judge Dredd can pry my coffee from my cold dead hands.
posted by saysthis at 7:08 PM on March 17, 2016 [2 favorites]
And yeah, the anti-legalization stoner? Take away the stoner part, and you pretty much pegged my feelings on it. I don't want to be the guy who says it's all gonna end up in the hands of big ag and corrupt-as-all-hell local networks, but when has cynicism about access to power ever proven me wrong?
Burn 'em all down? Nah. Referendums to price cap, remove barriers to licensing, and regulate the sweet living bejesus out of grower and distributor monopolies? Yes please. Let the ag barons tear down the psuedo-Christian anti-minority prison-industrial BS we have in place now, then move in before they've captured the new regulators and vote them into oblivion. You weed moguls, you future Republican diehards, come to daddy.
I'm not even stoned and I sound like I keep my savings in Bitcoin. Judge Dredd can pry my coffee from my cold dead hands.
posted by saysthis at 7:08 PM on March 17, 2016 [2 favorites]
Many observers tries to relate MJ production to the alcohol industry. But MJ is a simple herb, needing no preparation (except drying, and possibly removing seeds) to consume in its finished state. There is no parallel with the fermentation/distillation industry. I avoid such comparisons.
posted by telstar at 8:44 PM on March 17, 2016
posted by telstar at 8:44 PM on March 17, 2016
he and a friend both applied to work at a Denver pot shop.
No and no. This African-American guy did not get a job offer not because "he had a felony marijuana conviction" (possession is typically not a felony charge unless one's holding enough to trigger a trafficking suspicion). A felony for marijuana needs to have trafficking, or run afoul of the three-strikes law. Which affects African-Americans more and more harshly, but it doesn't matter how he got a MJ felony charge.
He did not get hired because he did not have a MED badge. Having a marijuana felony history in no way bars him from working within the Colorado MED regime nor does it disbar him from earning a MED badge. Anyone working in a CO cultivation or retail facility has to have that badge, and pass the testing to acquire one.
There is definitely a demographic disparity of workers in recreationally legal juridictions, but this article is white-concern-bait and deceptive.
Or NO-ONE knows that he's actually eligible to enroll and challenge to be Occupationally Licensed and then could actually qualify for a job. Jeez, spend as much time reading the rules as complaining...
posted by porpoise at 9:50 PM on March 17, 2016
No and no. This African-American guy did not get a job offer not because "he had a felony marijuana conviction" (possession is typically not a felony charge unless one's holding enough to trigger a trafficking suspicion). A felony for marijuana needs to have trafficking, or run afoul of the three-strikes law. Which affects African-Americans more and more harshly, but it doesn't matter how he got a MJ felony charge.
He did not get hired because he did not have a MED badge. Having a marijuana felony history in no way bars him from working within the Colorado MED regime nor does it disbar him from earning a MED badge. Anyone working in a CO cultivation or retail facility has to have that badge, and pass the testing to acquire one.
There is definitely a demographic disparity of workers in recreationally legal juridictions, but this article is white-concern-bait and deceptive.
Or NO-ONE knows that he's actually eligible to enroll and challenge to be Occupationally Licensed and then could actually qualify for a job. Jeez, spend as much time reading the rules as complaining...
posted by porpoise at 9:50 PM on March 17, 2016
It's sort of funny that people worry about big ag taking over and causing corruption or adulterated product as a reason to oppose legalization.
You do know who runs the illegal business right?
I'll take big ag. At least you can sue them if they poison your pot or buy local officials.
posted by spitbull at 2:51 AM on March 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
You do know who runs the illegal business right?
I'll take big ag. At least you can sue them if they poison your pot or buy local officials.
posted by spitbull at 2:51 AM on March 18, 2016 [1 favorite]
Wow, so much "it's not because they're racist!!! it's because they have VERY GOOD REASONS!!!" whitesplaining around here.
The Unbearable Whiteness of the Marijuana Industry
posted by divabat at 6:26 AM on March 18, 2016 [5 favorites]
The Unbearable Whiteness of the Marijuana Industry
posted by divabat at 6:26 AM on March 18, 2016 [5 favorites]
But still, there's like what, 8 black people total in Colorado?
Have you never been to Denver?
posted by krinklyfig at 6:28 AM on March 18, 2016
Have you never been to Denver?
posted by krinklyfig at 6:28 AM on March 18, 2016
I'm not super gung ho about rich old white dudes becoming richer old white dudes, sure, but isn't that still a much better result than what we have now? With rich cartel dudes becoming richer cartel dudes, poor black folks going to prison, and lots of dead bodies?
Yeah it's not ideal. But neither is it the horror show we have now.
posted by Justinian at 4:37 AM on March 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
Yeah it's not ideal. But neither is it the horror show we have now.
posted by Justinian at 4:37 AM on March 19, 2016 [1 favorite]
Seems like the same old same old, rather than "better".
posted by divabat at 7:00 AM on March 20, 2016
posted by divabat at 7:00 AM on March 20, 2016
I'll take big ag. At least you can sue them if they poison your pot or buy local officials.
I'll take Big Ag, because they won't be putting illegal farms in the middle of national parks, complete with lethal traps and dumping of herbicides into delicate ecosystems. Half my friends who are hikers have stories of stumbling into a current or abandoned pot farm.
posted by happyroach at 5:18 PM on March 20, 2016
I'll take Big Ag, because they won't be putting illegal farms in the middle of national parks, complete with lethal traps and dumping of herbicides into delicate ecosystems. Half my friends who are hikers have stories of stumbling into a current or abandoned pot farm.
posted by happyroach at 5:18 PM on March 20, 2016
You realise they grow that way because it's illegal to grow in the open on their own land, right? Not because that's how they would prefer to be farming?
posted by tobascodagama at 7:10 PM on March 20, 2016
posted by tobascodagama at 7:10 PM on March 20, 2016
So many willing to rush into the arms of huge corporations. Sad.
posted by telstar at 12:35 AM on April 3, 2016
posted by telstar at 12:35 AM on April 3, 2016
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posted by srboisvert at 7:15 AM on March 17, 2016 [15 favorites]