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Should Government Regulate Cannabis Quality?
- Thread starter Skip
- Start date
For me, I'd like to know that Phillip Morris isn't spraying Brix or Deathjuice on their shit.
Pretty much anything past that is too much govt for me
And to be honest, anything beyond that is pointless. Test for bad shit, okay, but the gov't gauging quality?
That's like asking a blind man to judge a beauty pageant.
After all, they do such a sterling job, amirite?
Asking the gov to 'rate' cannabis is like asking a gay guy to judge a wet T-shirt contest - no idea what the fuck is going on.
ItsAllOver
Devil's Advocate
It's funny that you make this assumption that I don't have good will or care about health. Now does that seem reasonable to you? Or is it more reasonable to assume that I just see that health and good will are more likely to result from a system in which the gov't is not involved in regulation.
Do you not have a response to what I said?
Botanist
Member
what is going on with every one on this thread? No one here should be happy with the current government regulations yet when the tables turn we all seem to be more then willing to use the government club to get what we want through force.
People keep saying that somehow organic is bettor, and I think it is in this case, yet you and I do not have the right to force someone to except our standards. Now that seems thing to be going so good in California we are looking towards the future and already envisioning how we can incorporate government into something that at one time government was the biggest threat too.
What about all those people who say it should be 100% illegal? For what ever irrational argument they had, we where forced to except their standard of morality. and the consequences have been glorious, haven't they?
So out of the frying pan and into the fire. We plan on deregulating marijuana, yet before we have even achieved that we are all clamoring about lack of regulation. For the love of God am I the only one paying attention?
If we except the notion that our sanction to grow and posses weed comes from government it will not be long before the anti-weed crowd gains control of the government again. When that happens we have lost because it will have already been excepted that government must regulate you in order to protect you. In order to protect its productive cattle.
It seems like about half of use would cry that our freedoms are being trampled on because of the war on weed, yet be the first to sing a petition to outlaw cigarette because we don't use them and therefor have the right to force the hands of others.
WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muHg86Mys7I
People keep saying that somehow organic is bettor, and I think it is in this case, yet you and I do not have the right to force someone to except our standards. Now that seems thing to be going so good in California we are looking towards the future and already envisioning how we can incorporate government into something that at one time government was the biggest threat too.
What about all those people who say it should be 100% illegal? For what ever irrational argument they had, we where forced to except their standard of morality. and the consequences have been glorious, haven't they?
So out of the frying pan and into the fire. We plan on deregulating marijuana, yet before we have even achieved that we are all clamoring about lack of regulation. For the love of God am I the only one paying attention?
If we except the notion that our sanction to grow and posses weed comes from government it will not be long before the anti-weed crowd gains control of the government again. When that happens we have lost because it will have already been excepted that government must regulate you in order to protect you. In order to protect its productive cattle.
It seems like about half of use would cry that our freedoms are being trampled on because of the war on weed, yet be the first to sing a petition to outlaw cigarette because we don't use them and therefor have the right to force the hands of others.
WAKE UP PEOPLE!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=muHg86Mys7I
ItsAllOver
Devil's Advocate
It's not that anyone is afraid that they wouldn't dominate the gov't quality levels. I am just afraid that the COSTS imposed by the regulations on my bottom line will get to the point at which the business is no longer profitable... And this is not make-believe. Small firms of all kinds today already have this problem.
ItsAllOver
Devil's Advocate
I'll admit, some of you are making very persuasive arguments for testing.
Obviously, my first post shows my initial reaction to any sort of government expansion. I do not want to let the government any farther into my life, in any fashion. Hell, I don't want them in as far as they already are!
However, you guys make a lot of good points for voluntary testing. I can see the benefits, and as long as the government isn't coming to test my personal crop, I'm cool with giving consumers more information.
Your initial response of "no gov't involvement!" and your realization now that "voluntary testing" seems like a good idea are not contradictory.
SeniorBuzz
Member
marijuana laws and regulations won't be that much different than tobacco or alcohol so the same state organizations and enforcement can apply.
the mmj laws and regulations need to be tweaked before mj becomes legal
a mmj license should mean something
for those that need mmj it should be tax free
the mmj being grown should meet strict standards
to protect mmj customers from pesticides, and such
Stoner Chick
Member
What i do not understand is how 26 people voted for this: Yes, treat cannabis like tobacco or alcoho.
WTF are you serious?? The cannabis industry would be decimated. The only real cannabis would be from private growers. The tobacco lobby is so freaking huge, unless you have been in legislative politics you really have no idea.
You cannot turn over cannabis to an industry that is known for corrupting the product and poisoning the end user just to increase sales and addiction rates of their product.
The control over alcohol is still rather bible related in many parts of the U.S. Many states south of the Mason Dixon line, including some midwest states have city ordinance laws that prevent the sale of alcohol on Sundays before a certain hour, usually 1-2pm. What kind of shit is that, you want to buy some bud on a Sunday but the places in your local area can't sell it at all or not until a certain time. Screw that.
The tobacco industry will gain a foothold in cannabis production and some genius non-user executive in a $700 dollar suit is going to recommend artificially flavoring the cannabis and next thing you know, Grape-Ape will be a poisoned breed that smells of toxic grape Jolly Ranchers when smoked. Oh Joy!
The tobacco industry has already attacked cannabis smokers in Illinois pushing through 'anti-blunt wrap' legislation which makes all those flavored blunt wraps sold at liquor stores and smoke shops illegal - why? Because big tobacco knows only cannabis smokers buy blunt wraps, and guess who DOESN'T make blunt wraps? Big tobacco - they make swishers and other blunts cigarello type smokes you have to take apart and then reroll your ganja in them. THIS is where big tobacco lost money - pot smokers stopped buying swishers and cigarello's to take apart and started buying blunt wraps in a billion flavors. Big tobacco lost that money - introduced legislation to end blunt wrap sales, and then manipulated the community by paying $38,000usd to a Chicago bishop who then brought down 31 pastors to the Illinois State house to testify how they did not want blunt wrap sold in their neighborhoods because they are used for "DRUGS".
Anyone thinking that something good can come out Cannabis being handled like tobacco and alcohol is seriously mistaken.
WTF are you serious?? The cannabis industry would be decimated. The only real cannabis would be from private growers. The tobacco lobby is so freaking huge, unless you have been in legislative politics you really have no idea.
You cannot turn over cannabis to an industry that is known for corrupting the product and poisoning the end user just to increase sales and addiction rates of their product.
The control over alcohol is still rather bible related in many parts of the U.S. Many states south of the Mason Dixon line, including some midwest states have city ordinance laws that prevent the sale of alcohol on Sundays before a certain hour, usually 1-2pm. What kind of shit is that, you want to buy some bud on a Sunday but the places in your local area can't sell it at all or not until a certain time. Screw that.
The tobacco industry will gain a foothold in cannabis production and some genius non-user executive in a $700 dollar suit is going to recommend artificially flavoring the cannabis and next thing you know, Grape-Ape will be a poisoned breed that smells of toxic grape Jolly Ranchers when smoked. Oh Joy!
The tobacco industry has already attacked cannabis smokers in Illinois pushing through 'anti-blunt wrap' legislation which makes all those flavored blunt wraps sold at liquor stores and smoke shops illegal - why? Because big tobacco knows only cannabis smokers buy blunt wraps, and guess who DOESN'T make blunt wraps? Big tobacco - they make swishers and other blunts cigarello type smokes you have to take apart and then reroll your ganja in them. THIS is where big tobacco lost money - pot smokers stopped buying swishers and cigarello's to take apart and started buying blunt wraps in a billion flavors. Big tobacco lost that money - introduced legislation to end blunt wrap sales, and then manipulated the community by paying $38,000usd to a Chicago bishop who then brought down 31 pastors to the Illinois State house to testify how they did not want blunt wrap sold in their neighborhoods because they are used for "DRUGS".
Anyone thinking that something good can come out Cannabis being handled like tobacco and alcohol is seriously mistaken.
SeniorBuzz
Member
au contraire stoner chick
in order to prosper
all that is needed is to utilize the existing talemts
of the Emerald Triangle Growers to form
collectives to create the legal large model indoor
production-line grow
turn the technical knowledge of the growers loose to do
what they do best.
grow great stuff legally
ItsAllOver
Devil's Advocate
Do you think that large scale indoor will really be the production method of choice once cannabis is legalized? I can't see that happening
The boutique strains, yes, but the majority of cannabis smoked in this country is probably beasters or mid-grade that's grown outdoors. The outdoor aspect will probably remain true, although the quality is likely to increase.
It is overly "people intensive" and costly as far as all other resources to grow cannabis indoors on a large scale. It doesn't seem to me like there is any way to produce indoors the quantities of bud that are consumed in this country. What is large scale today will seem like peanuts upon legalization, not because overall consumption will increase, but because the production will shift to individuals inside the country as opposed to importing it from Canada or Mexico. It won't be lucrative to smuggle garbage anymore.
Outdoor has a stigma against its quality that I think is only true because of the inherent sketchiness of growing and harvesting mj illegally. Due to certain requirements that come out of the illegality, the quality suffers. Once legal, the outdoor grows will dominate as far as value (quality x price) goes... The medical users will still probably shoot for the more expensive indoor buds.
Anyway, that's my prediction.
Quality will definitely be regulated. During the alcohol prohibition the only thing available was the hardest liquor possible, and right now the Cannabis prohibition results in us packing the most THC into each gram, simply because of the illegality of the hobby (and for some of us just to see how far we can push it.)
Truth is, the most common consumption of Cannabis (legal) will be weak diluted stuff. No more passing joints around, and the RYO (Roll Your Own) scene will be a small one. People will buy packs of pre-rolled low-THC joints, saving the hard stuff for special occasions.
Should the gov regulate it? It depends on what exactly that means. I don't believe they should cap cannabinoid levels in any way but they will probably have areas where the distinction between low-THC vs high-THC will matter, much like allowing a supermarket to sell beer but not liquor.
Although, putting the alcohol comparison aside, what about tobacco? Are nicotine levels regulated?
Truth is, the most common consumption of Cannabis (legal) will be weak diluted stuff. No more passing joints around, and the RYO (Roll Your Own) scene will be a small one. People will buy packs of pre-rolled low-THC joints, saving the hard stuff for special occasions.
Should the gov regulate it? It depends on what exactly that means. I don't believe they should cap cannabinoid levels in any way but they will probably have areas where the distinction between low-THC vs high-THC will matter, much like allowing a supermarket to sell beer but not liquor.
Although, putting the alcohol comparison aside, what about tobacco? Are nicotine levels regulated?
I agree - and IL terrifies me with their anti-blunt wrap and how "high potency" kush is legally treated like crack - but the truth is, life isn't fair and it's certainly not ideal, and yes the big companies will seek to maximize profit (that's what keeps companies alive,) but is there really something wrong with adding artificial flavor to weed? A company will ONLY do it if people will buy it, and what's wrong with people wanting flavored weed?
What a company sells reflects the desires of the consumer. A company is a slave to the consumer, and yes it can manipulate demand with advertising but I put the blame on idiots who actually believe ads and buy into garbage. Big Corps just take advantage of this fact. Tobacco companies are rich as fuck because people LOVE tobacco. Same with alcohol. Drugs sell themselves.
But unlike Alcohol and Tobacco, weed is a psychedelic and there's some hope (by me at least) that it will help expand people's mind and get them to start thinking instead of blindly following.
Enough said.
SeniorBuzz
Member
large indoor grows will be allowed
before marijuana will be legalized
to supply the rapidly growing medical marijuana community
Maria_Vanessa
Member
I guess it would only matter if you were planning on purchasing cannabis only.
I know alot of people that strictly make their own beer, and don't purchase alcohol at all. I know a couple of people that grow their own tobacco and harvest, dry roll it themselves and don't buy cigarettes. I'm sure alot of us know people that grow their own fruits and vegetables and refuse to buy produce from a supermarket or any farmer growing or raising anything from Monsanto seeds, Cargill materials, etc.
If cannabis were legal, and you knew how to grow it, and grew only for yourself and maybe for close friends and loved ones, would what the government regulated affect you at all?
I know alot of people that strictly make their own beer, and don't purchase alcohol at all. I know a couple of people that grow their own tobacco and harvest, dry roll it themselves and don't buy cigarettes. I'm sure alot of us know people that grow their own fruits and vegetables and refuse to buy produce from a supermarket or any farmer growing or raising anything from Monsanto seeds, Cargill materials, etc.
If cannabis were legal, and you knew how to grow it, and grew only for yourself and maybe for close friends and loved ones, would what the government regulated affect you at all?
J
JackTheGrower
We are counting our chickens before they hatch.
There is no way to avoid the greed factor and once it's legal to grow with a licence commercially the small grower will have a reduced presence in the market.
I am all for testing smoke. I sure know I don't want to pay retail then send it out to the lab.
So to avoid poisoning folks we do create testing requirements. Agriculture has to submit already. Cannabis will have to submit too.
That's just logical for any legal produce being sold to people.
The key here is a Legal market system.
Stoner Chick
Member
It won't affect me (if i eventually get a successful grow going!), but i am more concerned for all the first time smokers. What is learned first is learned best, and someone learning their cannabis from Philip Morris is to me a worse case scenario for a stoner.
Many corporations poison and exploit as a natural way of operating to increase profit margins (why else did Philip Morris add ammonia to nicotine to cause "impact boost" which only increased rate of addiction?), i would expect no different treatment of cannabis with big corp. tobacco in drivers seat for commercial cannabis in the U.S.
J
JackTheGrower
I doubt it unless you are in possession of illegal pesticides or some such thing.
So I agree the first and best way to have cannabis you can trust is grow our own.
But if we must buy it the least we can expect is someone is checking the produce. We all know we will be paying too much in the store for cannabis so it should be safe. It should have some clue as to how it was grown and processed I can read.
Also I feel our Organic Standards are higher standards than agriculture so we would do well to get tighter rules for labelling cannabis Organic than tomatoes.
Maria_Vanessa
Member
Yes, I agree. Another factor to consider is that people are influencial, especially peers. Peers influence each other, especially when it comes to what brands of alcohol to drink or what kinds of cigarettes to smoke. Even if the Altria Group (new Phillip Morris name) commericially produced their own cannabis cigarettes, it would be a challenge for them to be able to rise above their own polluted reputation.
Though I would be concerned for those living in other countries as they probably do not have anti-smoking groups to warn over the effects of cigarette smoking and the chemicals used to make them.
In addition, the information to produce your own cannabis is out there. Those who are weary of companies like RJ Renoylds and the Altria group might decide to take a chance and grow their own as well.
Maria_Vanessa
Member
Sorry for double-posting. If commecially grown cannabis produced by private companies did come about, I would want the government to test and regulate for any chemicals used. In addition, I would also want the government to regularate companies to make sure they did not contribute to land erosion, soil pollution or water pollution.
For example, in the commericial produce industry, growers and producers use a measurement called Brix, to measure the sugar content inside of fruit and vegetables. Each fruit has its own range of Brix My memory is kinda fuzzy, I may have some terms mixed up, but sometimes vegetables, mainly potatoes, are tested for their bulk density by placing them in a brine-like solution. If they float, they are close to ripe for selling. They they sink, they are used in processing (instant, frozen, canned potatoes).
The reason why I meantion the examples above is that I really don't know how the government could create a, or more than one, standardized test for cannabis quality. If the American government could, then would other countries accept this stardarization?
Should the U.S. maybe follow a standardation from other countries that have had cannabis lagalized or de-criminlized for a longer period of time like Portugal or Spain? Should the UN get involved? Would just standards be measured in English or Metric?
Should these standards be taught to future agriculture and horticulture students?
What if Monsanto got involved and they started making genetically modified seed that would be drought, pests and disease resistant? What is these GMO cannabis seeds started to naturally breed out of control with other species within the family as cannabis or the same order?
Legalization of cannabis is a very exciting possibility.
