Weeding Out

As legalization of marijuana phases in and criminalization statutes phase out across many states, it’s time to ask questions about the impact of growing this intoxicating weed on our environment. In the not-so-legal trade which seems to dominate large sections of Northern California, this “agricultural product” is clearly not under the watchful eye of qualified agricultural experts, resulting in some pretty devastating ecological impacts.

First, exactly how big is this “ray of California sunshine”? And since most states still ban demon weed, exactly how does it get into the limited markets where it is legal… as well as the vast majority of markets where it is not? “[W]ith the exception of Colorado and Washington, whose laws dictate where, how, and by whom marijuana may be grown, they have had little to say about the manner in which it is cultivated—which is challenging to dictate in any case, since growers who cooperate with state regulators could still be prosecuted under federal statutes that classify pot as a Schedule 1 drug, the legal equivalent of LSD and heroin. So where is all this legal and semilegal weed supposed to come from? The answer, increasingly, is an unregulated backwoods economy, the scale of which makes Prohibition-era moonshining look quaint…

“According to federal stats, trespass grows [weed farmers who simply grow their crops on state, federal or private land that is not theirs] in California alone account for more than one-third of the cannabis seized nationwide by law enforcement, which means they could well be the largest single source of domestically grown marijuana. Of course, nobody can say precisely how much pot comes from indoor grows and private plots that are less accessible to the authorities. What's clear is that California's marijuana harvest is vast—"likely the largest value crop (by far) in the state's lineup," notes the Field Guide to California Agriculture. Assuming, as the guide does, that the authorities seize about 10 percent of the harvest, that means they would have left behind more than 10 million outdoor plants last year, enough to yield about $31 billion worth of product. That's more than the combined value of the state's top 10 legal farm commodities.” Mother Jones, March/April 2014.

Does inevitable legalization shut this illegal farming community in favor of more traditional private farming on properly-owned land? Exactly where will the future “legal crops” be grown, and exactly what environmental controls are likely to be necessary? Clearly, rogue farming would not expected to care how many laws and regulations they might violate, since the growers are willing to face vastly more devastating criminal prosecution to ply their trade. How bad is it?

“To meet demand, researchers say, the acreage dedicated to marijuana grows in the Emerald Triangle [pictured above] has doubled in the past five years. Like the Gold Rush of the mid-1800s, this ‘green rush,’ as it is known locally, has brought great wealth at a great cost to the environment. Whether grown in bunkers lit with pollution-spewing diesel generators, or doused with restricted pesticides and sown on muddy, deforested slopes that choke off salmon streams during the rainy season, this "pollution pot" isn't exactly high quality, or even a quality high. ‘The cannabis industry right now is in sort of the same position that the meatpacking industry was in before The Jungle was written by Upton Sinclair,’ says Stephen DeAngelo, the founder of Oakland's Harborside Health Center, a large medical marijuana dispensary. ‘It simply isn't regulated, and the upshot is that nobody really knows what's in their cannabis.’” Mother Jones.

In addition to the qualification of sellers, record-keeping and regulatory control of legally-sold marijuana in the retail and wholesale marketplace, as this intoxicant generates increasing legal status in more states, we equally need to address the rather severe consequences of unregulated farming. For those who advocate legal status for the marijuana trade, the issue is not simply about legalization and done; it’s very much an “industry” that requires a lot of pre-planning, regulatory controls, uniform and understandable quality standards and very real limitations and environmental regulations that impact all of us, whether we are users or consumers or not.

I’m Peter Dekom, and whether or not you favor legalization of pot, if such status is achieved, we all need to press hard for the kinds of controls that make this industry accountable.