Where do opponents of cannabis cultivation at home come from

The companies did not mention another reason why their management seeks to prohibit the cultivation of cannabis at home - corporate greed.

One of the main features of the modern hemp industry is that it has significantly accelerated the process of stopping the use of psychoactive hemp, acquired in the illicit market and legalizing the possibility of using the therapeutic properties of the plant.

Hemp industry attracts not only people in need, but also business representatives who prefer to earn money, despite the preferences of their clients. That is why recently the greed of hemp businessmen has been faced with the desire of ordinary citizens to save money and at such times moral tenets of those who impose cannabis products on the market that earn significant added value but are unacceptable to the consumer in the form in which they are offered are visible.

This kind of controversy recently broke out during a debate over New York’s attempts to legalize the use of cannabis for medical purposes, growing plants at home. The city already has a medical cannabis industry, which is characterized by a limited number of active players. The state has licensed only ten companies that should be vertically integrated and can open up to four retail stores. In order to comply with the strict rules of the state, the above companies had to spend a significant amount of time and resources.

Naturally, already existing companies, on the one hand, are interested in not giving an opportunity to increase the number of suppliers of raw materials to the market, and on the other, expand the scope of their business by opening new sales points. The New York Medical Cannabis Association (NYMCIA), representing virtually all of the holders of the relevant state license, prepared changes to the current regulatory framework, which it sent to the governor’s office for study.

This document lists five reasons why they categorically object to the possibility of growing cannabis at home. According to the prepared document:

1  Growing cannabis at home will make it impossible for government agencies to eliminate the illicit market;

2   Cultivation of plants at home will grow; therefore, law enforcement agencies cannot subsequently discern where the raw materials grown on the legal market and where on the illegal market are;

3   Official manufacturers can ensure the cultivation of plants without the use of pesticides and other soil pollutants, which is impossible to do at home;

4   Growing at home will undermine the interest of government officials in the fact that cannabis sold in New York State is tested, packaged and labeled in accordance with the documents governing this process;

5   Home cultivation of cannabis will lead to a reduction in tax revenues to budgets of various levels.

Interestingly, the company did not mention another reason why their management is seeking to ban the cultivation of cannabis at home - corporate greed.

Representatives of companies believe that in the case when it will be possible to prohibit the cultivation of a plant at home, consumers will be forced to buy the product they need from state-licensed operators, i.e. these companies will be able to make additional profits. There is no question that the consumer, given the cost of the product from a licensed manufacturer, will turn its attention to the illegal market.

Naturally, public organizations specializing in the protection of consumer rights were outraged by these proposals, aimed exclusively at obtaining additional profits. In particular, the employee responsible for working with the media of the National Association of Cannabis Manufacturers (National Cannabis Industry Association) Morgan Fox (Morgan Fox), focused on the fact that "the domestic cultivation of cannabis can be an incubator for people who develop skills that can later use in the cannabis industry, which benefits businesses as well as individuals seeking to enter the market. ”

Erik Altieri, Executive Director of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, commented on the NYMCIA initiative as follows: “There is no reason to pay attention to the initiative of the New York Medical Cannabis Association.

It is sad to realize that companies licensed to use cannabis for medical purposes can cause great damage to their image by taking this morally unacceptable position. ”

There is no evidence that growing at home is detrimental to a legal business connected with legal growing or processing medical cannabis. For example, in the state of Colorado, consumers can grow cannabis at home in parallel with the rapidly growing market for the legal use of the therapeutic properties of cannabis for medical purposes.

This opposition to the possibility of growing cannabis at home runs the risk of alienating the consumer base of the 10 companies mentioned above. Most clients, regardless of whether they grow plants at home or not, do not like it when companies specializing in this type of business say that for the same activities that they do legally for private entrepreneurs face criminal liability. The argument that for ordinary citizens of this kind of work should be criminalized, when large companies on the same activity earn - a great way to repel the most loyal customer base.

The reality is that most consumers prefer to grow plants on their own. In the case when they have serious problems, they are ready to go to specialized medical institutions. Therefore, American consumers do not understand why if, according to the regulatory framework of the country, they can brew home-made beer at home and on what basis can they be forbidden to grow cannabis at home.

Also, as in the business associated with the production of low-alcohol products, "home brewers" find new beers, independently try a significant number of different recipes, bringing to this business a huge number of ideas implemented by large breweries. A similar activity can be practiced by domestic hemp growers, when hemp business enthusiasts can develop new plant varieties at home with previously unknown properties that will subside the patients in need.