Marijuana Farms

Marijuana farms, although illegal, are lucrative business. For the state of California, marijuana farms are cash crop. Marijuana consumption for medical use has been legal in California since 1996 when voters passed Proposition 215. Medical marijuana is considered to be a joke within the state and is currently under fire. Anyone older than 18 with a doctor’s note can obtain medical marijuana which keeps the need for marijuana farms growing.  Since California’s legalization of medicinal marijuana and marijuana farms other states have attempted to follow suit.

Most marijuana farms are still considered illegal throughout the country, even though the DEA has been licensing some of them. The DEA has licensed 55 pharmaceutical companies to have marijuana farms in order to produce generic versions of the THC capsule, Marinol, which are marijuana farms outside of the legislation that California and other states have passed.

All of this and yet it didn’t stop the authorities from seizing tons and tons of pot, literally. Last year alone, local and federal authorities seized nearly seven million illegally grown marijuana plants. Federal sentencing for growing marijuana farms is stiff. Marijuana farms can house more than 100 plants that can grow up to over 18 feet high. These growers get doctor’s recommendations that say they can grow up to 99 plants. That’s frustrating for authorities trying to crackdown on marijuana farms because one 18 foot marijuana plant can produce nearly three pounds of medical grade marijuana. Which means the person smoking the marijuana with a marijuana farm of 99 plants would have to smoke a joint every six minutes of every hour of every day in order to consume all the pot they are growing on their marijuana farm.

That’s not all that’s bothering authorities about marijuana farms.

Marijuana farms, which used to be grown by local hippies, are also beginning to be run by armed traffickers that are ready to confront anyone who comes their way. This one of the dangers of marijuana farms but this doesn’t stop marijuana production from happening.

American marijuana farmers grew nearly 22.5 million pounds of marijuana in 2006. This amount of pot is worth nearly 36 billion dollars. Most marijuana farms are locally produced.

The newest press on marijuana farms is their threat to the wildlife in the areas in which they are grown. Some illegal marijuana farms threaten the safety of humans but are also causing ecological damage to the land they are on. The animals that find their home in the forests where marijuana farms are found are also being harmed. The rat poison that is used on illegal marijuana farms is killing fishers, a weasel like animal, found in Redwood National Park, Yosemite and in the southern Sierra Nevada area within the Sierra National Forest.

Those who are in favor of marijuana farms think that it can be a really money maker and can help with a lot of ailments for those who need it medically.

Whether marijuana farms are good or bad is really a matter of personal opinion although if you look at the recent Gallup polls you will find that 50 percent of Americans are in favor to legalize marijuana which means that all those marijuana farms, may be here to stay.

Sources:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/podcast/episode.cfm?id=marijuana-farms-poison-wildlife-12-07-22

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/social_issues/july-dec11/marijuana_08-31.html

http://calcoastnews.com/2011/05/dea-licensing-marijuana-farms/

http://www.oregonlive.com/health/index.ssf/2012/06/medical_marijuana_after_a_mode.html

http://www.drugscience.org/Archive/bcr2/domstprod.html

http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2010/07/21/oakland-legalizes-marijuana-farming.html

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=103866520

http://www.kqed.org/news/story/2012/07/16/102366/illegal_marijuana_farms_putting_california_wildlife_at_risk?category=science

http://westernfarmpress.com/management/marijuana-farms-threaten-wildlife