Let me preface this little article by stating I am fully in favor of marijuana legalization. I don't have enough time or energy to go into all the different reasons that marijuana should be legal, but research will continue to find more and more applications for medical cannabis as time goes on. I personally am not primarily interested in the euphoric or hallucinogenic effects that THC provides, but I frequently use CBD, and in order to get the most out of CBD, a little THC is also required. The exact science on this can be found elsewhere as well, but it is very very interesting. For now though, I would like to talk about the profit limit when it comes to growing marijuana as marijuana becomes legal around the US.
For nearly as long as I can remember, people have been discussing marijuana becoming legal. And right along with that discussion is the topic of how much revenue marijuana will generate as it becomes legal. And to an extent this is true, marijuana will bring a decent amount of revenue, however, we must also consider the offsetting costs that come along with the cultivation of cannabis. I can not even count the number of people that I know that plan to become cultivators when it becomes legal, and many of these people have a decent amount of money from their life savings to pour into the initial cultivation process. However, this is not a guaranteed road to riches. Look no further than Humboldt County California to see why this is the case.
Humboldt County is currently produces a large percentage of the marijuana grown in the United States. I seem to remember reading somewhere that over sixty percent of the countries ganja is grown in the Emerald Triangle, but I can't find the source, so take it with a grain of salt. However, on the TV show The Profit, growers in Humboldt county reveal that the price that they can sell pounds of weed for is all the way down to around $900. This is down from an average price of $1400 to $1500 a few years ago. This number will only continue to go down as more people join a market that is becoming saturated. Yes, the states that have allowed legal cannabis are seeing profit numbers that are through the roof, but these numbers are falsely buoyed up by people from out of state that travel specifically for the legal marijuana. Once marijuana is legal everywhere, people will no longer need to travel in order to enjoy the same recreational pleasures they seek, and the profit numbers of each state will accurately represent the true market.
Now I know that many of you all are thinking that there are very high end strains of weed that are selling for around $60 a gram in dispensaries, however, the cultivation of this very high end cannabis is very expensive as well. Add on the numerous and burdensome taxes and regulations and the profit margin narrows even further. That is not so say there is not money to be made of course, but there are costs to consider as well. Even the underground marijuana market around me, in a non legal state, has become a race to the bottom as more and more product floods in. All of this to say, there is a limit on the amount of cannabis that can be produced in order to keep it profitable. America is vast, but there is also a limit to how much weed can be consumed in a reasonable amount of time believe it or not. I say all this without taking into consideration the other ways to enjoy TCH, such as concentrates, edibles, capsules, and other things, all f which have thriving customer bases. As I said before, I am all in favor of legalizing marijuana, and I consider the the moral and proper thing to do given the medical and spiritual benefits, however, the sacred plant is not a road to easy riches. Yes the new market provides a new avenue for making money, but just like anything else, the money must be earned through hard work and sacrifice.
Photo credit: http://www.documentarytube.com/articles/13-strange-facts-about-marijuana