ITG

Laid Off? Grow Some Weed
09/10/09 | The Business Insider | Yael Bizouati

Hit by the recession? Just laid off? Head toward the Appalachia region and start growing (and smoking) some weed.

Apparently it’s working pretty well for the folks out there.

The AP reports that police in that area, one of the nation's biggest hotbeds for marijuana production, have chopped down plants with a combined street value of around $12 billion in the first eight months of this year.

The amount of marijuana confiscated in Kentucky, Tennessee and West Virginia amounted to 700,000 plants in 2007 and in 2008, with the economy faltering, narcotics officers confiscated more than 1 million plants in the three states.

From the AP:

Places in east Tennessee, eastern Kentucky and West Virginia are probably feeling the recession a lot more severely than the rest of the country and have probably been in that condition a lot longer than the rest of the country,” said Ed Shemelya, head of marijuana eradication for the Office of Drug Control Policy's Appalachian High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area. "

Dailyfinance also reports that pro-marijuana groups like NORML (the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, have called for the legalization of pot as a way to help stimulate the economy. It does seem like an awful waste to destroy $12 billion worth of crops.

As we reported, some got a booze bailout, so maybe it’s time for a weed one too?

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Buzzby

They don't mention that 98% of the weed pulled up and confiscated is feral ditchweed with no value as smokable marijuana. Not mentioning it makes them sound like they might actually be accomplishing something instead of what they're really doing: wasting taxpayers' money.

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RatedRUser

I so agree with you on that. I say let us grow the weed and sell it, shit we need m-o-n-e-y. I feel as if everything that's been put forth to try and help stimulate our country has yet to see results. I feel the only way to keep us from going deeper in debt is to trime some of the fat on taxpayers money. Okay Mister Obama you advocate change and what not. Why not truely go green? I mean make hemp legal that way we can get people jobs here in america. Make marijuana legal so we can see those tax dollars help bring us up from debt. Hell marijuana should be like this apply for a growers card and sellers card along with a tax id. Register your company name with your state, Sell your weed and bam tax time comes around give them your info and they tell you how much money you owe in taxes. I figure we get info of these people doing this f the billion dollars in debt we'll be billion dollars of over flow money.

claygooding

I know of one case,where a man was growing his own marijuana,not distributing or selling it,and they busted him. He claimed it as a medical marijuana grow,in a state with no medical marijuana law. The DA over the case has not yet indicted the man,not because they can't prove the case,but because the DA has to get a jury of 12 citizens to declare the man guilty,but the defendant only has to convince 1 person on the jury that marijuana is a medicine, to lock up the jury,and have it declared a mistrial. Any DA does not want a mistrial,because of the expense and time consumed,only to have to do it over again,with the same results.
And with all the press coverage,and states that are enacting medical marijuana laws,he may get started in a trial,only to have too stop it because the state may enact a medical marijuana law.
DA's are elected by money minded citizens,and his wasting of public funds imprisoning someone for growing their own medicine,will hurt him on his next election,regardless of whether he wins the case or loses it.

Buzzby

In a state without a medical marijuana law, all the judge has to do is inform the defendant that he cannot use medical marijuana as a defense.

This is what happened in the federal trial of Ed Rosenthal, who was growing medical marijuana under a contract with the city of Oakland. He was not allowed to mention that he was growing medical marijuana or that he was doing so with the knowledge of local authorities.

Buds_Of_Steele

thats a prime example of the way the Government operates, lulling people into this false sense of security and thinking that everything is alright, that the jobs are being done, its being fed to the uneducated masses. all the people i talk to who are against marijuana have no idea that there are different strains, potency levels and so on. the anti cannabis folk sit around basking in the so called "victory" in the war on drugs. then when they go home and pop their prescription pills, there sleeping pills and such they dont even realize that they too are drug users.

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claygooding

There are differences in state court rules of evidence and federal,and I don't have all the info on them. And there may be some other reason they are not prosecuting.
They have plenty of time to wait and see. I think a lot of states are still waiting on the Attorney General to clarify the Federal medical marijuana policy before getting real aggressive with the issue. Who knows for sure?

jthc

Let them report inflated prices all they want, they just make the "tax it" argument sound more legit.

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giftedchild00

if we legalized pot then it would be really expensive to buy in stores and so the drug dealers would charge more