cannabisnews.com: My Word: Going Legit, If Proposition 19 Passes
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My Word: Going Legit, If Proposition 19 Passes
Posted by CN Staff on October 09, 2010 at 06:14:57 PT
By Jordan Anderson, For The Times Standard
Source: Times-Standard
California -- If you are like me, you are one of thousands of commercial medical marijuana growers in Northern California, and you, like me, are concerned about what Prop. 19, the “tax and control” initiative will do to our economy. You have thrived in a community that supports and even depends on the (variably legal) medical marijuana commerce. If you are like me, when you first heard about the initiative, your first desire was to vote against it. You have exhausted hours discoursing with friends, acquaintances, and probably even strangers about how this will hinder our community and its economy. You, like me, are scared of change and the end of our day in the sun.
One thing I've noticed, though, when talking about legalization with friends, associates, etc., is that the general consensus seems to be, “Well, I'm just going to wait, play it safe, and see how it all plays out.” But with November rolling ever closer, polls are continuously gaining support for Prop. 19, and rumors are buzzing like honeybees. I'm sure you've heard the ones about indoor warehouses in Oakland that are supposed to produce 120 pounds per day once their cycles get going. You've heard about Phillip-Morris weasels buying up land in the mountains/farm regions of Northern California. The threat of legal loopholes and corporate commercialization will swallow up our small private farms (now considered full-scale, commercial grow-ops), and our way of life will come to an end. Well, I'm proposing we do something about it! We are pioneers who have forged the path to even make this initiative possible, and we have a right to have a say in how it goes when it's legal. That's why I'm starting the “Northern California Cannabis Farmers Alliance,” a company (eventually incorporated) that will comprise collective action of group and individual farms all across Northern California. We will grow recreational, medical and hemp-resourceful cannabis for licensed dealers (brokers). With this new initiative, we will have to legitimize business and compete with corporate commercialization. The NCCFA will protect small family farms and current cannabis growers from corporate suffocation and market overflow. It will create jobs, protect farmers' rights and stimulate cannabis research in a growing market. The NCCFA will be set up like a huge network. Each farm will operate as its own legal business franchise/corporate shareholder with tax/stock options and full benefits for employees. Farms will be organized by a county branch who will be able to meet specific local needs, supply desired amendments, etc., locally and broker local distributors, etc. Eventually I want county branches to have a service similar to “temp agencies” that can provide local farms with willing, competent and desirable “seasonal workers” (trimmers, etc.) besides their own permanent workers, farmers and employees. County branches will also inspect farms (don't be scared! Everything will be legal and YOU will be protected) to make sure everything is up to code and environmentally friendly. Most importantly, 3 to 8 percent of all profits (varying by farm) will be donated to fund recreational, medical and resourceful marijuana/hemp research, and get real facts out there about its gifts/uses. I know you might be questioning me. You might say “I'm still going to hope it doesn't pass!” Or maybe, “What a sell-out, we'll still be screwed.” I ask you pessimists and nay-sayers to think of legalization not as the end to our way of life, but as a way to legitimize it, and a way to finally be respected as providers of a necessary service. All we need to do this is be organized, figure out our legal business schemes and unite under one corporate entity to protect our individual rights, skills, and (I hate to say it) profits. I, too, will have a hard time adjusting to this new business plan. I am so adapted to our underground ways, I originally feared becoming legit. I probably won't ever be able to say “Kush Co, how much marijuana would you like to buy today?” on the phone. But this is a chance for us to play ball with the big leagues, and to be able to compete, we must unite. Right now this idea is just a baby (though forms are ready to go for when Prop. 19 passes), and to get it up and running, I am going to need major help from everyone who wants to protect current growers (lawyers, insurance people, brokers, financial advisors, etc.). I am working on appointing a board of directors, which should represent all involved counties. Jordan Anderson, owner of NCCFA, resides in Willits. Source: Times-Standard (Eureka, CA)Author: Jordan Anderson, For The Times StandardPublished: October 9, 2010Copyright: 2010 MediaNews Group, Inc. Contact: editor times-standard.comWebsite: http://www.times-standard.com/URL: http://drugsense.org/url/JsuG97KgCannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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Comment #9 posted by Canis420 on October 09, 2010 at 21:28:12 PT:
bulldung
But, with a $5,000-a-year habit and chronic bronchitis, she tried repeatedly to quit. About a dozen times over the years she checked in alone to a hotel in Desert Hot Springs to white-knuckle herself through nausea, sweats and tremors.
Short periods of abstinence were followed by relapses. She could barely get through her workdays, and her husband grew increasingly exasperated by her behavior.
At 42, after several months of abstinence, her depression without the drug was so great that she attempted to kill herself by taking "every pill in the house."
What a bunch of crap!
[ Post Comment ]
Comment #8 posted by FoM on October 09, 2010 at 18:42:12 PT
One More Comment
When Cannabis is fully legal buying online from individual growers would help those who grow and cut out the middlemen in my opinion. The profit should stay then with the grower. You reduce expenses so it would be a win win situation in my opinion.
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Comment #7 posted by Canis420 on October 09, 2010 at 18:31:46 PT:
Lucas
I believe once legalzed in Cali wholesale prices will come down in stages. $1800.00 a pound for an ag product is way high. It might land there first but as more ppl grow their own that price will continue to come down. It is likely that it will become legal in other outwest states as well in the next 5 years or so which will put more cannabis on the market thus keeping the downward trend going. The more states that legalize in the future, which is hard to predict, the lower the prices will go...nationwide.
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Comment #6 posted by FoM on October 09, 2010 at 10:50:14 PT
Lucas
I look forward to a day when Cannabis can be sold at Health Food Stores with other quality medicinal herbs. I would buy some medicinal herbs by the ounce in a baggie just like most people think of Cannabis in a baggie. The herbs were affordable. I would love to see the day when empty fields could be growing Cannabis or Hemp all over the country.
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Comment #5 posted by Lucas on October 09, 2010 at 10:44:52 PT
Price wont go down to $40 a pound.. maybe $1800
Retail prices will remain at market will bear levels, but the profits will be realocated as taxes..25 years ago the USGovt. Mississippi farm calculated the cost of production of a pound at $40, and the market value as $600.. Their conclusion was that the difference, $560 could be realocated as tax revenuestudies that claim prices will fall, are propaganda. In their next breath those same studies claim the lower price will increase use, by children. Dont buy into the propaganda..Wholesale prices per pound have actually already dropped by 1000 a pound in the past 2 years, due to overproduction, and due to dispensaries insisting on 100% markup.. (black market markup is lower, about 60%)The going rate for a retail eigth has remained stable at $35-75 depending on quality and location. The end user is still paying the same market price.. and middlemen are still making the same profit, only the producer is being discounted to cover all the new players in the delivery stream..at least, thats my take on it.. with respect to those who differ
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Comment #4 posted by Lucas on October 09, 2010 at 10:31:18 PT
how selfish??
I share your concern that prohibition NEEDs to go away.I think Jordan is just trying to adapt to the end of prohibition, so he can keep working legally, by unionizing.Remember, you and I have been smoking pot safely, as medical users, while the producers have remained at legal risk.Its actually selfish of me and you, to think that our medicine gives us a right to judge the producers of your medicines, as prohibitionists judge us.Producers have been taking all the risks, while medical consumers bask in their safe harbor.I think we owe the producers a huge debt of gratitude, and should not forget them as prohibition ends.Clearly the opposition wants us infighting, and wants to eliminate all the "dealers", and replace them with legalized "brokers".. Its a money grab by the establishment..Growers who have been taking all the risks, will then be marginalized, and replaced by new corporate businesses..I would rather see the existing growers legitimized.
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Comment #3 posted by FoM on October 09, 2010 at 10:17:30 PT
Storm Crow
That's right. Isn't that what everyone knew would happen when we finally get the laws changed? The price will drop and make it affordable for everyone. People should understand supply and demand.
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Comment #2 posted by Storm Crow on October 09, 2010 at 09:55:49 PT
Reality.......
I'm voting YES ON PROP. 19! Ginseng is a hard plant to grow. It demands certain soil and weather conditions, protection from the sun, and it takes years before harvest. I buy (el cheapo) powdered ginseng for about $35 a pound. Ginseng growers make a profit.Blueberry growers also have a fussy plant to deal with. It takes two years after planting before the growers get their first small harvest. I bought frozen blueberries for about $4 a pound a couple days ago. Blueberry growers make a profit.Tomato growers sell their tomatoes at $3 a pound, at the most, in winter. In summer, I buy tomatoes for less than a dollar a pound and still the tomato growers make a profit.Cannabis is an annual weed. It can be grown in Siberia, or Panama. Anyone who can grow a tomato plant can grow cannabis. Grown outdoors, it needs little in the way of fertilizers, and pesticides are usually unneeded. The only thing that has kept its price so artificially high, is prohibition and that will end in California this fall!The Rand Corp. is predicting an eventual post-legalization price of around $40 an ounce. Comparing that price to other agricultural products, the cannabis growers STILL will have a "sweet deal"- the price just won't be so totally obscene any more! Welcome to the REAL world of agriculture, Mr. Anderson!
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Comment #1 posted by HempWorld on October 09, 2010 at 07:36:50 PT
Jordan Anderson is benefiting from prohibition
and doesn't want it to go away, how selfish!
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