The debate over home-grown
Tuesday, Apr 9, 2019 - Posted by Rich Miller
* Dotnonymous in comments…
Home grow is a check against so many things that can… and do… go wrong…including but not limited to… delays in implementation, slow rollouts, limited access to retail stores, limited product availability or inadequate quality… and… it’s the only check against artificially high prices.
Aside from the liberal use of ellipses, that’s the best, most succinct explanation I’ve seen to date.
* The other side…
Drugs have already done too much damage in minority communities, said Tim McAnarney, lobbyist for Healthy and Productive Illinois, a coalition of anti-marijuana organizations. […]
If marijuana is legalized, the coalition hopes to at least eliminate home-grown pot, McAnarney said, because some of it will inevitably supply the black market.
If people can brew beer and make wine at home, then why prohibit them from growing a couple of plants for personal consumption? Keep in mind that small-time home-growers currently face the possibility of having their houses seized by the local cops.
* More…
“Our position is, you eliminate many of the benefits of regulation if you allow home-grows,” said Ed Wojcicki with the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police. He said it’s turned other states into the “wild west.”
I got news for you, Ed. People are already growing it in their homes. This won’t just start happening outta nowhere. Put some limits on it if necessary. I have no problem with regulation. My problem is with adult prohibition.
* Related…
* Illinois police chiefs speak out against legalizing industrial hemp
* Smoking Pot vs. Tobacco: What Science Says About Lighting Up: A sweeping federal assessment of marijuana research found the lung-health risks of smoking weed appear “relatively small” and “far lower than those of smoking tobacco,” the top cause of preventable death in the U.S.
* Activists on both sides are pushing hard as marijuana legalization bill looms in Illinois: On Thursday, pro-legalization groups made their case at the Thompson Center in Chicago. Partners in the push include ACLU Illinois, the Law Enforcement Action Partnership, Clergy for a New Drug Policy, and union officials, including Tom Balanoff, president of the Service Employees International Union State Council. He spoke of the estimated $350 million to $700 million a year the measure could raise in tax revenue, and provisions to clear the criminal records of thousands of workers with minor marijuana convictions. “We need this legislation to help our most vulnerable communities and to create opportunities for both working families and entrepreneurs,” he said.
- Annonin' - Tuesday, Apr 9, 19 @ 11:18 am:
Wonderin’ if Mr. B brings the same kiss of death as he did for ToniP? Seems like expungementpalooza will be the biggest impediment
- NIU Grad - Tuesday, Apr 9, 19 @ 11:29 am:
I don’t think home-brewing has turned us into a wild west with people selling bottles of closet beer on the street…
- don the legend - Tuesday, Apr 9, 19 @ 11:31 am:
===Drugs have already done too much damage in minority communities, said Tim McAnarney, lobbyist for Healthy and Productive Illinois, a coalition of anti-marijuana organizations. ===
The absurd war on drugs has already done too much damage… Fixed it for you, Tim.
- Juvenal - Tuesday, Apr 9, 19 @ 11:31 am:
What “black market”, Tim?
We tax the heck out of cigarettes, have people started growing tobacco in their back yards to sell on the black market?
(NOTE: Rich, you can add growing your own tobacco to the list of things that are completely legal)
No. They haven’t. Because turning a profit on tobacco or marijuana production requires economies of scale and distribution networks that our neighborly neighbors do not have.
Which is why the bill limits the homegrower to five plants.
On the contrary, homegrowing is the best prophylactic against a criminal black market. As long as people have the option of growing their own, commercial manufacturers cannot collide in price fixing, and government overtaxation is kept in check.
- wordslinger - Tuesday, Apr 9, 19 @ 11:32 am:
–* Illinois police chiefs speak out against legalizing industrial hemp–
Reductio ad absurdum.
It’s lunacy like this that makes me suspect some of these chiefs just want to keep that repugnant asset-seizure cash-cow going.
- Al - Tuesday, Apr 9, 19 @ 11:33 am:
Scotch drinking, cigar smoking lobsters are concerned about…minority communities? I am laughing my head off.
Also when I see opposition to growing Hemp I am sad Hemp farmer George Washington is dead. He would lead an armed rebellion against these goobers.
People with Epilepsy should be allowed the freedom and liberty to grow a harmless herb for their necessary medical use.
- Grandson of Man - Tuesday, Apr 9, 19 @ 11:33 am:
I support home grown, as it should also help economically, with the sale of equipment: soils, nutrients, grow lights, fans, etc. But should people kill legalization because it doesn’t have home grown? That seems extreme, as home grown could be enacted in the future.
- What's in a name? - Tuesday, Apr 9, 19 @ 11:38 am:
Admittedly I am no expert and beyond that I have never partaken of herb, I do however drink copious quantities of wine. I have a couple of friends who make wine and let me say the vineyards and wineries in California and France are not at risk. Would there not be similar quality issues with home grown? Actually wondering.
- Jocko - Tuesday, Apr 9, 19 @ 11:41 am:
With the DEA listing marijuana as a schedule 1 drug (but not alcohol?) and the Supreme Court trying to get a handle on asset forfeiture…I’m curious what type of liability a ‘home grower’ is taking on.
- Montrose - Tuesday, Apr 9, 19 @ 11:42 am:
As Rich said, its happening already. Put limits on what can be grown, make it illegal to sell home grown, and move on.
On a side note, if anyone is looking for a lightly use, really nice home brewing set-up, let me know.
- Anonymous - Tuesday, Apr 9, 19 @ 11:42 am:
Home grown is not an inexpensive endeavor. It’s not a “Toledo Window-box” endeavor. This applies mainly to the startup costs, but it requires some money and lots of care thereafter. A fun filled hobby, but I’d guess maybe 20% would go for round 3 or 4. Off to the medicine shop place easier.
- Nick Name - Tuesday, Apr 9, 19 @ 11:42 am:
Home brewing and home winemaking have exploded in the past two or three decades (and home distilling is starting to catch on) and the sky has not fallen. I suspect the same will hold true with home growing.
- Kentucky Bluegrass x Featherbed Bent x Northern California Sinsemilla - Tuesday, Apr 9, 19 @ 12:03 pm:
It took almost 40 years to allow homebrewing once alcohol prohibition ended. If only the police weren’t afraid of a plant and would focus on solving crimes with an actual victim.
==”For us it’s more of the philosophical issue,” said Ed Wojcicki, executive director of the Illinois Association of Chiefs of Police.==
Last year the police didn’t want farmers to grow hemp for “philosophical reasons” and now they are still fighting a plant, and they are losing.
Homegrow is about liberty and being able to provide for oneself. Illinois may pass legalization this year but are consumers going to have to wait another four decades to be able to legally put a few seeds in the ground?
- Nanker Phelge - Tuesday, Apr 9, 19 @ 12:09 pm:
I am not in favor of legalizing marijuana, but I find it contradictory if you want to make it legal, yet not allow people to grow their own, at least for their own consumption. I think those wanting legal pot but not allowing home-grown pot have a philosophical conundrum to deal with.
- R. Marley - Tuesday, Apr 9, 19 @ 12:17 pm:
I’m good with legalizing pot, and very in favor of industrial hemp production. I’m skeptical about home grows staying limited to five plants. Seems to run against human nature, as I’ve experienced it.
I’m curious about how that aspect would be enforced. Would we allow cops warrants to go checking-up on the count? Or will they smell some “probable cause” like they do at some traffic stops, and barge into homes looking for number six?
Or will it be more like an additional offense added to a primary complaint: you arrive to deal with a domestic, ticket someone for battery, and while dealing with that, you see more than five plants thru the open door, you add a charge and a fine for the extra plants and confiscate them? What, exactly, will the rules be, and how might they be bent …on -both- sides? I’m more at ease allowing home grow for the registered med mar users.
- Generic Drone - Tuesday, Apr 9, 19 @ 12:28 pm:
Only reason to not allow home growers is they want to control profits.
- Just Observing - Tuesday, Apr 9, 19 @ 12:34 pm:
=== Would there not be similar quality issues with home grown? Actually wondering. ===
Yes and no. I mean lots of black market pot is now homegrown or at least illegally grown (even on a more commercial scale) and the quality can be exceptional. It can also be pretty poor, especially if you just throw some marijuana seeds in your backyard garden and hope for the best.
What regulated marijuana does bring is better labeling (e.g. strain, strength, etc.), a more trusted product (e.g. not laced with anything), and more innovation in products (e.g. vape pens, edibles, etc.).
- Dotnonymous - Tuesday, Apr 9, 19 @ 12:44 pm:
- Grandson of Man - Tuesday, Apr 9, 19 @ 11:33 am:
I support home grown, as it should also help economically, with the sale of equipment: soils, nutrients, grow lights, fans, etc. But should people kill legalization because it doesn’t have home grown? That seems extreme, as home grown could be enacted in the future.
It’s extreme to deny the right to home grow…based on comparable cannabis laws enacted in the legal States.
I don’t believe anyone wants to prevent legalization…I do believe “stakeholders” need to come to a rational consensus of what legalization means…in terms of Citizens Rights vs. Big CannaBiz Profits.
“Could be enacted in the future”…almost never happens.
- XonXoff - Tuesday, Apr 9, 19 @ 12:52 pm:
Slippery slope. Next they’ll be coming for my recreational tomato plants and I’ll need a medical tomato license to grow then. Struggling with the logic.
- Al - Tuesday, Apr 9, 19 @ 1:14 pm:
I have posted this before but facts are facts. In 1988, after an extensive review and hearings, Drug Enforcement Administrative Law Judge Francis Young ruled Cannabis is a Safe and Effective medicine. Cannabis was found to NOT be a gateway drug and was less habit forming than…Coffee.
Marijuana is a made up term by unemployable racist illiterates from the 1930s. It is Hemp or Cannabis please. The M word is offensive and racist. Nixon’s top henchman said three years ago in an interview published in TheAtlantic.com Nixon ordered Cannabis placed on Schedule I to make it easy to crack down and control the people in the Peace Movement, the Black Panthers and the American Indian Movement. It was order by Nixon removed from the Merck Medical Manual not due to its being an ineffective medicine, but to harass, arrest and put in prison anyone in the opposition politically.
Legalize it already and give us our rights back.
- Da Big Bad Wolf - Tuesday, Apr 9, 19 @ 1:36 pm:
==Drugs have already done too much damage in minority communities.==
Interesting argument. Since the rate of black use and sales of illegal drugs is the same as whites, but imprisonment for drug violations is 5.8 times the rates of whites, wouldn’t the damage to black communities be caused by the enforcement of drug laws? Legalization of marijuana would get rid of one of those drug laws that are a scourge to the communities.
https://www.politifact.com/punditfact/statements/2016/jul/13/van-jones/van-jones-claim-drug-use-imprisonment-rates-blacks/
- SIUEalum - Tuesday, Apr 9, 19 @ 2:01 pm:
If the state is really serious about enforcing limits on home growing, I’m guessing ComEd and Ameren smart meters will play a role, right or wrong. I have a friend in Michigan who legally grows at home, and the electricity consumption is unreal.
- Cheryl44 - Tuesday, Apr 9, 19 @ 2:08 pm:
That’s an excellent point SIUEalum. I have had my AeroGarden less than a month and I’ve wondered what it’s doing to my ComEd bill.
All the non-AeroGarden, non-Amazon advice online about the things are full of people growing pot in states where that’s legal.
- Al - Tuesday, Apr 9, 19 @ 2:27 pm:
Those Aero Gardens look like they could be nice for growing Basil. Cannabis users are going to use a 250 high pressure sodium or 400 watt metal halide high intensity discharge lamp. One of those might be $20 a month in electrical juice which would not be noticeable at all in the heating months because the extra heat the lamp puts off helps to heat the home. Those bulbs are big and get hot. No waste.
- Illinois Resident - Tuesday, Apr 9, 19 @ 3:04 pm:
Home grow clearly should be allowed but time will tell if a majority of the politicians believe in constituent freedom of choice or will favor special interest groups. Kelly Cassidy is a strong advocate for homegrow and I hope she really continues to push hard for this.
- Illinois Resident - Tuesday, Apr 9, 19 @ 3:26 pm:
Michigan allows for the growing of 12 cannabis plants. In addition to that, residents can have 10 ounces of cannabis at their home and 2.5 ounces in public. The lasts draft I am aware of for Illinois allowed for the homegrow of 5 cannabis plants and an additional 1 ounce held at home or in public. Too bad we don’t have a ballot initiative process in our state. If homegrow is not passed here, we are way behind what Michigan passed.
- Al - Tuesday, Apr 9, 19 @ 3:27 pm:
When will we get to see the text of SB0007? How has it passed first and second readings without any text?
- Illinois Resident - Tuesday, Apr 9, 19 @ 3:33 pm:
Al - Agree. Everything seems to be very secretive. With 50 days left in the session, the public should know what is going on.
- Al - Tuesday, Apr 9, 19 @ 3:38 pm:
Big boys don’t like change, unless it falls into their pockets.
How about a little light on this, like a thousand watter?
- Kentucky Bluegrass x Featherbed Bent x Northern California Sinsemilla - Tuesday, Apr 9, 19 @ 3:43 pm:
So if all these cultivators can supply the adult use demand then why does my dispensary tell me they cannot get enough flower from many of the cultivators leading up to one of the biggest sales days of the year?
- Nameless - Tuesday, Apr 9, 19 @ 4:11 pm:
Homegrown’s alright with me,
Homegrown that’s the way it oughta be
- Al - Tuesday, Apr 9, 19 @ 5:00 pm:
Rich, do legislators realize Nixon basically re-instituted a form of Jim Crow by Cannabis prohibition?