Marijuana farms finally go straight
For growers like Basil McMahon, legislation regulating medical marijuana confers legitimacy.
An unmistakable scent, rotten-sweet and earthy, greets visitors to Basil McMahon’s pine- and oak-sheltered farm.
It wafts from cannabis plants growing in a murky legal terrain between acceptance and prohibition.
Over the next few years that will change, as a sweeping new package of laws will reverse years of California state silence by regulating and licensing every stage of the medical marijuana industry.
For consumers, the shift will mean more assurance that their medicine won’t be laden with pesticides and other impurities, but will likely result in higher prices. For growers, the new regime will recognize cannabis as an agricultural product, conferring legitimacy and imposing new rules on farmers accustomed to tending their plants without a stamp of approval from the state.
“It means I’ll be able to do what I’m doing without fear of persecution for the first time in my life, for the first time in generations,” McMahon said as workers trimmed buds from the fall harvest. “That’s exciting, but it also presents a lot of questions and challenges.”
While voters authorized medical marijuana in 1996, the California legislature had failed to create a system for regulating it until this year.
Now, growers will need to obtain cultivation permits and abide by rules for water and pesticide use, with state agencies policing their environmental impact and vetting labs that will test for pesticides and other contaminants. The California Department of Food and Agriculture will track medical pot’s progress with a “seed-to-sale” monitoring system.
Many marijuana farmers speak optimistically about the opportunity to operate free of the need for surreptitiousness and threat of raids. But they also warn that if permits are too costly and compliance is too cumbersome, the new regime could backfire and send farmers deeper into the woods.
Not all marijuana farmers have been growing the plants exclusively for medicinal use. It’s common knowledge that “weed” has far more value on the black market, and the financial motive proves irresistible to some.
For the new program to successfully divert cannabis from the black market to regulated dispensaries, farmers say, it will need to be worth the time and investment required to abide by the rules and obtain permits.
Competition with black market prices is a significant consideration, but not the only one. Many farmers worry that the new rules will benefit large-scale enterprises that have the resources to comply, pushing out smaller growers in the process.
Staying afloat could come down to quality. Stricter testing and labelling standards mean cannabis consumers will get more information about what they’re purchasing.
“One of the things we hope to see is the value travel back up the supply chain,” said Emerald Growers Association executive director Hezekiah Allen.