To me, marijuana is less an issue than hemp. Specifically, missing out on a crop that could be worth billions. Grown on marginal land, with a minimum of fertilizer and pesticide, if used for nothing other than paper it would be a godsend.
Not only does it make better paper that lasts far longer than wood pulp paper, but it would slash the price of lumber, which could be put to far better use on other things than chip.
And since hemp will cross pollinate with marijuana, it will slash its potency. It will still be a drug, just not as potent a drug.
“Not only does it make better paper that lasts far longer than wood pulp paper, but it would slash the price of lumber, which could be put to far better use on other things than chip.
And since hemp will cross pollinate with marijuana, it will slash its potency. It will still be a drug, just not as potent a drug.”
If we legalize marijuana I bet what we'll see is the development of dual purpose plants. They'll make relatively high THC hemp so they can use the fibers and/or the seeds for all of the various things they can be used for in food production, textiles, paper, etc., and the resin could be collected and blended and pressed into hash to be sold from “pot shops.” That way they could grow huge fields and mechanically harvest them, and they'd have better control over the final product they sell to consumers from the shops allowed to sell marijuana. They could blend resin from various strains to reach the desired levels of THC and other compounds found in marijuana and to achieve the right taste and so on, and they'd probably mix in some stabilizer of some sort and preservatives to give it all a uniform texture and an incredibly long shelf life, and they'd end up with a uniform mass produced product they could sell to the masses like Bud Light or Marlboro Lights. Hand picked manicured buds would be a luxury item for those willing to pay the premium price.