A Snake in the Grass
“Liberty Cap” writes on Twitter on 06.09.19:
Home grow cannabis is the most important economic factor put upon any Government regulating cannabis and the industry to keep em honest and on their toes. Competition promotes excellence and reduces prices, that the American way. Limited access to market is capitalism gone wrong.
— Liberty Cap (@LibertyCap420) June 9, 2019
DCMJ weighs in on DC Mayor Bowser’s “Safe Cannabis Act” regarding locally-grown cannabis:
DCMJ wants expert growers to be able to sell their excess cannabis at farmer’s markets in the District of Columbia. By providing an outlet for locally grown cannabis, the DC government can ensure more dollars are circulated locally and collect sales tax. Moreover, many growers do not have the capital to invest in a large-scale growing facility, but can provide the marketplace with unique varieties of cannabis. Some strains of cannabis are not profitable for large-scale cultivation, but small home growers can fill the niche if they are given the opportunity to sell their extra cannabis. There is a fine line between legal sales and illegal sales and we believe it primarily involves volume of sales. No one cares if a gardener in DC sells their extra tomatoes to their next-door neighbor, and we believe the same case should be made for cannabis. However, if an adult wants to sell in an established marketplace, we believe they should obtain a “micro-cultivators license” to ensure they follow the rules. With this license, the grower would be permitted to transport more cannabis than regular citizens would be permitted to possess outside of their homes.
The current initial draft of the Safe Cannabis Act contains constraints on the sharing of cannabis and has no provisions for the legal sale of home-grown cannabis; much of this is due to the influence of large-scale operations who want to corner the market for adult-use and medical cannabis.
Most of the gray-market “pop-ups” which became popular in the wake of Initiative 71 – many of which were busted at some point – aren’t selling DC-grown bud, but product often smuggled in from California and Oregon, with no way of telling how it was grown, what types of fertilizers were used, whether or not chemical pesticides were used, etc. Giving DC local home growers a “Fair Shot” would go a long way toward eliminating this issue, and keep all that money in DC.
Keep in mind that passage of the Safe Cannabis Act depends on the passage of the DC budget bill without the notorious Harris Rider, which prevented DC from taxing and regulating the legal sale of cannabis. The Rider was written out of the bill thanks to the efforts of DC Congressional Rep. Eleanor Holmes Norton; the bill passed out of the House Oversight Committee, but still needs to get through the Senate and be signed by Mr. T.
Local home-grown cannabis is essential to countering the threat of big money and “Big Weed”. The Plant belongs to the People.
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