Buzzby

I was out walking my dog today and thinking, as I often do, about reasons that marijuana should be legalized. I came up with one that I've never seen before.

Because marijuana is illegal, much of the high-quality weed produced in the US and Canada is grown indoors under lights. These lights consume up to 1000 watts of electricity each and a large grow-op will use dozens of them. Indoor grow-ops also consume a lot of power in ventilating, heating, cooling, humidifying, and dehumidifying. Most of this electricity is produced by coal- and oil-fired plants that pump megatons of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere.

Cannabis, grown outdoors, sucks up CO2, a greenhouse gas, and pumps out oxygen. Cannabis, grown indoors, does the same, but generating the power for the lights pumps a lot more CO2 into the atmosphere than the cannabis plants use. The net effect is to promote global warming rather than counteract it.

Compared to the value of the finished marijuana, the cost of the electricity is not significant to the grower. It's just part of the cost of doing business. As long as marijuana is illegal, growers will continue to grow indoors under lights and contribute to global warming. If marijuana were legalized, it could be grown outdoors (or in greenhouses) using free energy from the sun, decreasing the output of greenhouse gases and improving the environment. If the price of marijuana reflected the actual costs of production and marketing, using free energy would be a strong incentive to move production outdoors.

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SpiralArchitect

If it were legal I think most people would still grow indoors though. I am sure some people would opt to outside conditions, but indoor you can really control the environment. Growing outdoors provides the risk of it being stolen or harmed by bugs or wildlife. Depends on where you live really... I wonder how much actual electricity is put into growing herb in the US because often big time growers illegally tap into power lines because the cost is so high! Just imagine how much electricity that is.

Does rain affect marijuana potency? I wouldn't assume so.

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kcbennie

I have actually grown both indoors and outdoors. While growing indoors does offer a controllable envorionment, it's not without perrils. You can still get mites and bugs indoors. It completely stinks your entire house up. It takes a ton of matainence and precision. Not to mention it is extremely expensive (not just the energy needed, but also the equipment).

On the other hand, the downside to growing outdoors all have to do with the legality of it. Having to hide plants often stunts their growth and decreases the yeild. If a plant was allowes to grow in the ground and be out in the open without the danger of being busted, it would be just like growing tomatoes. A plant outside has unlimited room for root growth, unlimited sunlight, and unlimited CO2. There is no danger of the plant overheating from poor ventilation. With all of these elements in place, a plant outdoors has the potential to grow 10 to 14 feet tall and grow up to 2 pounds on one plant (I've actually seen plants this big and the buds were killer weighing up to 1 and a half ounces).

If it were legal to grow outside in my back yard, I would start plants in my garage under flourescents in december. I would force flowering in February to find the females and throw the males away. I would take five to ten of the healthiest females and plant them outside in March, just like tomatoes. By starting them early i get three more months of vegetative growth and eliminate the possability of wasting time with males. By the time they start to flower they would be anywhere for 3 to 5 feet tall. I would harvest anywhere from 2.5 to 20 pounds. Then I would smoke it throughout the following year while I grew the next crop.

What a wonderful world it would be.

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