But states have several reasons to limit personal cultivation
Does it make sense for states to prohibit home grows?
Perusing the various social media channels, it seems like the majority of the cannabis industry supports the right for people to grow their own cannabis, even at the expense of potentially losing a few customers. Many medical dispensaries and retail stores will even sell clones to assist the process.
It’s an interesting facet of the cannabis industry — many of the players are activists first, businesspeople second — and likely a unique element not seen in many other avenues of business. Can you imagine Budweiser openly lobbying for looser home brewing laws?
In states like Oregon, Colorado and Alaska, all adult residents are allowed to grow their own cannabis, provided they meet certain criteria and follow the established rules. Washington, meanwhile, prohibits home grows from non-cardholders, but this could change in the near future (or may have already by the time you read this).
In the grand scheme of things, I think adults should have the right to grow a few cannabis plants in their own basement or in a small backyard greenhouse. And I don’t think that right should be limited to those with a medical card.
Some people like to grow their own tomatoes. I like to walk across the street and buy them from a grocery store. But for those that find enjoyment out of it, or believe it’s cheaper, or simply want to know exactly what nutrients, pesticides and fertilizers are used on their product, that’s their prerogative.
But cannabis is clearly different than tomatoes.
Nobody’s getting busted trying to smuggle hundreds of pounds of Florida tomatoes into South Carolina. And state governments aren’t relying on tomato excise taxes to fund educational programs — therefore, right or wrong, they’re not incentivized to keep the entire tomato market on lock-down the way they are with marijuana.
Ultimately, the question of home-grown cannabis has more to do with other states’ laws than it does those with legal marijuana. States with legal marijuana have far lower prices than those that still rely on the black market, so it’s easy to see the “business plan” of buying legal weed and illegally transporting it out of state for a much higher profit margin.
When the rest of the country wises up to the wide-ranging social benefits of legalizing cannabis, I think states will care less about clamping down on small grows for personal use. Yes, that might sound like a long wait for that day to come, but this industry seems to be headed in the right trajectory.
Meanwhile, I don’t see the cannabis industry ever being significantly impacted by home growers, much the same as I don’t think garage brewers impact the beer business. If people want to spend hundreds of dollars on equipment and higher electricity costs to grow a few ounces at a time, I say that should be their prerogative.
Garrett Rudolph
Editor