Pot plan makes growing cukes seem easy

I’ve been retired for a while but the latest photo-op on weed production forced me to write.

It seems like déjà vu all over again. It wasn’t that long ago that Premier Brian Peckford was breaking ground for the $30-million Sprung greenhouse.

We will never pay off the debt because we renew the bond each time it comes due. It has cost us $75 million to date.

You would think that we would learn from our mistakes, but no. Here we are, all smiles about the new weed factory.

Allow me to enlighten you. St John’s is famous for its poor weather. So, all weed grown in St. John’s will be grown indoors and under light.

A 150,000 square foot building in town, $15 million to $20 million, sitting on a $2-million parcel of property. Twelve thousand kilograms at $8 per gram — $96 million total. Energy costs $300,000 per month. Perhaps the cash-poor government will give the power for less, thereby subsidizing the weed. And when the “cheapest option” power from Muskrat comes on stream, that energy cost will hit $600,000 per month.

There are 240,000 family units in the province, of which about 40,000 live on government support. Of the 200,000 remaining, 60,000 work for minimum wage and find it tough already.

So, where is the money coming from? Will weed purchases displace the more lucrative smokes, booze and gambling?

With the added expenses of weed sales, there will be no windfall for the government, and in 30 years we will all look back on this as Sprung 2.0,

I smoke weed, and over the past 20 years there was never a time when weed wasn’t available to all who desired it, and the price was reasonable.

But when weed Is no longer illegal, then the people who’ve produced it for the past 20 years can do so without many of the problems they had in the past when it was a criminal offence to carry a few grams.

Photo-ops are fine, but growing weed is difficult and expensive, and with the humidity in St. John’s it will be nearly impossible.

If, perchance, the proponents of this scheme are fortunate enough to produce product for sale (Sprung produced none), only then will the real competition begin.

You may not realize it, but much of the weed is produced around Montreal, where power costs six cents per kilowatt hour. Power here is 12 cents and will go to 25 cents.

Our brand new factory will spend $600,000 per month on power, plus mortgage, while the bikers with 20 years’ experience, working from an abandoned warehouse in Montreal will spend $150,000 to produce the same (maybe better) product.

It is like competing against Costco.

We get our ferries and boats built elsewhere because it is cheaper, the government says.

We buy our steel from China and Mexico, even though it is produced in Canada, because it is cheaper, the government says.

We’ve sent our fish to China for processing, because it is cheaper, the government said.

But when it comes to producing weed, we will grow it ourselves (with the appropriate amount of government connections and generous subsidy, of course).

Growing cucumbers in the foggiest place in North America, for people who won’t eat cucumbers, will be a great idea when compared to this plan.

Roy Whalen Deer Lake