Should Government Regulate Cannabis Quality?

[Botanist]

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.

No, it is not logical and that is my point. I know that government already has its tentacles in most all of the market. That is not a logical argument for letting them suck the life out of a new market.
If the key is a legal market then we need to look at the law. The law in all cases is first created in every country to protect the individuals rights. The nanny state your advocating cannot both protect rights while its also the largest violator of them. When government tells me how to grow my pot or makes me run it through some test it has violated my right to liberty (the right to chose), my right to produce, and trade how i see fit. Not how some elected dick or voting block sees fit.

It may not seem like much to you and others that you can force companies to jump through you hoops, but it is this philosophy of government that has lead us to where we are today. Had we had a government back in the day that truly respected individual rights marijuana would be legal today. And not to get to far off track but the federal reserve would have been looked at as a violation of rights and the finical crisis would never have been either.

So morally it is wrong. that is if your morality dives you to view human life as heroic. Economically it makes little sense to place anything... at all in the hands of government. Read Economics in one lesson.

All you end up with is high prices, low quality, and little to no control. When you spend your money you get the best you can for the best price. When you spend some one else's money to by good and services for some one else you get bad quality and bad prices. Read Human Action.

It is not logical simply because its being done already.

And now time for another quote from the God among men Thomas Jefferson
"and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed."

 

[Maria_Vanessa]

I voted "Let Buyer Beware", and I am regretting that vote. Educating people on cannabis and its consumption is so important.

Cannabis is a wonderful plant. Not to hijack the thread, but people should be educated on how certain genetic cultivars and varieties can affect different biology systems of the human body and how cannabis can be injested into the body. Most people still associate cannabis consumption with just brownie and blunts.

In addition, I feel as though children, teens and young adults should have a life long education in schools about cannabis and how cannabis is integrated and intregal to such subecjts as Agriculture, Religion, History, Humanities, Sciences, Business/Economics, Law/Crime, Plant and Human Biology, and Sex educational subjects. If cannabis is legalized, then they should definetely be added to sexual education courses to warn teen and young adults who to protect themselves if a "friend" tries to use cannabis for nefarious purposes to lower one's guard and self-protection.

 

[TheGreenBastard]

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?

No, the regulation should only concern commercial sale, their should be no regulation on a personal crop, as it is PERSONAL.

 

[JackTheGrower]

@Botanist but there is no "NEW" market.

It's an evolving situation where I must say the old producers are starting to be effected by the new.

 

[Maria_Vanessa]

@Botanist but there is no "NEW" market.

It's an evolving situation where I must say the old producers are starting to be effected by the new.

Competition! The bane of all businesses everywhere.

 

[JackTheGrower]

Sorry for double-posting. If commercially 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 commercial 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 mention 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 standardization?

Should the U.S. maybe follow a standard from other countries that have had cannabis legalized or de-criminalized 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.

The thing I argue for is some basic safety checks on all sold produce.
Inhaling the smoke is an intimidate ingestion into the blood and tissues.
We have to treat Cannabis as such. It need to be clean to be safe.

No pesticides at all should be used.

What I wonder is how much genetic engineering will be done.

Could there be a weed for example that makes you want to go to war rather than not?
Vote Republican when you are a Democrat?

Could cannabis be a tool against us?

 

[Maria_Vanessa]

The thing I argue for is some basic safety checks on all sold produce.
Inhaling the smoke is an intimidate ingestion into the blood and tissues.
We have to treat Cannabis as such. It need to be clean to be safe.

No pesticides at all should be used.

What I wonder is how much genetic engineering will be done.

Could there be a weed for example that makes you want to go to war rather than not?
Vote Republican when you are a Democrat?

Could cannabis be a tool against us?

I agree with the safety checks. I'm an agriculture student and I have had several professors tell me in class, well the whole class, that there are a few commercial growers that do not have an qualms about selling produce that have been infected with viral, bacterial, fungal or parastic pathogens.

If cannabis was produced commericially, then I have no doubts that there would be genetic engineering. Genetic engineering itself has been around for thousands of years, since man, well, women who were the gardeners and gatherers, discovered the concept of agriculture. These women naturally breeded plants together to produce bigger fruit in trees, plants and grasses to feed families, to trade with other and sell.

Since the Green Revolution in the 70s, scientists have taken things a step further. If you haven't heard of the Bt toxin, look it up. Most seeds, with the exception of all or some heriloom varieties have been genetically altered to be pest, disease and drought resistant. I don't want to completely villify GMOs because they have helped stave off hunger and starvation in some countries like India in the 1970s.

But, nature and evolution will always adapt to what humanity has done. And as such, the insects, fungi, bacteria and virus that GMOs were suppose to be resistant to, have now evolved to overcome those resistances. And because of this plant biologists, horticulturist and other scientists have to fight to stay one step ahead of nature.

In addition, GMOs are still plants. This is obvious, but it has not stopped Monsanto from suing farmers for harvesting their patented crops, not realizing that it's natural for a plant to spread it pollen over large distances. The pollen and recepticles from these GMOs are naturally being cross-pollenated with from non-genetically modified crops, creating hybrids with no help from man. It's a nature process fo a plant to want to survive.

Another problem is that "weeds" and GMOs are cross-pollinating to create "superweeds" that cannot be destroyed by herbicides or Roundup Ready. So yeah, my whole point for saying the previous two or three paragraphs is, now just imagine all of those genetic issues with cannabis on a commericial level. Just something to ponder and hopefully prevent.

We have all sorts of strains now as we speak. Just imagine how many more strains there could be if companies got involved? And what if thes strains became fashionable and marketed as such? Would these strains create another black market? Criminals selling "knock-off" strains like they do with clothes and purses? Could you imagine a "haute couture" line of cannabis strains? Maybe Super Bowl ads showing different brands of cannabis? The Pepsi brans? The Coke brand? The Papa-Johns brand? There's even a snack made by Frito-lay called "Munchies". Now if that is not blantingly tapping into the stoner market, I don't know what is?

As far as war, well, for now cannabis is not oil or a natual resource that governments would go to war over. At least not yet. So much damage has been done by the CIA selling cocaine and heroine, I hope it never comes to that point.

Legalization of cannabis is a very exciting possibility, but also worrisome.

 

[JackTheGrower]

I agree with the safety checks. I'm an agriculture student and I have had several professors tell me in class, well the whole class, that there are a few commercial growers that do not have an qualms about selling produce that have been infected with viral, bacterial, fungal or parastic pathogens.

If cannabis was produced commericially, then I have no doubts that there would be genetic engineering. Genetic engineering itself has been around for thousands of years, since man, well, women who were the gardeners and gatherers, discovered the concept of agriculture. These women naturally breeded plants together to produce bigger fruit in trees, plants and grasses to feed families, to trade with other and sell.

Since the Green Revolution in the 70s, scientists have taken things a step further. If you haven't heard of the Bt toxin, look it up. Most seeds, with the exception of all or some heriloom varieties have been genetically altered to be pest, disease and drought resistant. I don't want to completely villify GMOs because they have helped stave off hunger and starvation in some countries like India in the 1970s.

But, nature and evolution will always adapt to what humanity has done. And as such, the insects, fungi, bacteria and virus that GMOs were suppose to be resistant to, have now evolved to overcome those resistances. And because of this plant biologists, horticulturist and other scientists have to fight to stay one step ahead of nature.

In addition, GMOs are still plants. This is obvious, but it has not stopped Monsanto from suing farmers for harvesting their patented crops, not realizing that it's natural for a plant to spread it pollen over large distances. The pollen and recepticles from these GMOs are naturally being cross-pollenated with from non-genetically modified crops, creating hybrids with no help from man. It's a nature process fo a plant to want to survive.

Another problem is that "weeds" and GMOs are cross-pollinating to create "superweeds" that cannot be destroyed by herbicides or Roundup Ready. So yeah, my whole point for saying the previous two or three paragraphs is, now just imagine all of those genetic issues with cannabis on a commericial level. Just something to ponder and hopefully prevent.

We have all sorts of strains now as we speak. Just imagine how many more strains there could be if companies got involved? And what if thes strains became fashionable and marketed as such? Would these strains create another black market? Criminals selling "knock-off" strains like they do with clothes and purses? Could you imagine a "haute couture" line of cannabis strains? Maybe Super Bowl ads showing different brands of cannabis? The Pepsi brans? The Coke brand? The Papa-Johns brand? There's even a snack made by Frito-lay called "Munchies". Now if that is not blantingly tapping into the stoner market, I don't know what is?

As far as war, well, for now cannabis is not oil or a natual resource that governments would go to war over. At least not yet. So much damage has been done by the CIA selling cocaine and heroine, I hope it never comes to that point.

Legalization of cannabis is a very exciting possibility, but also worrisome.

Sounds like you have the idea!

We all need to remember that Cannabis is a natural soil cleaner too. It can absorb toxins from the soil rather well. Look at Chernobyl. Cannabis is being grown to speed the clean up of that nuclear melt down in Russia.

If we grow our weed in a field where chemicals have been used it's an easy way to produce poisoned weed for market when growing say corn again in the field might not produce poisoned corn.
We simply have no data on how weed killers and pesticides smoke.

We should avoid the idea that we must make a business first then worry about the people we sell to later if at all.

I know plenty of growers from these past 10 years that just don't care or want to know. Their main thing is get that weed sold and get that money.

I bet with all this home grown flooding the market some of it is very unhealthy.

I've known folks smoking formaldehyde soaked cigarettes that thought that was okay too..

The things people will do to get high is just below the things people will do for money.

 

[SeniorBuzz]

really good thoughts JTG

thanks for the education

didn't know all of that

eliminate the thugs from the business;

don't let them into the collective

a mental exercise

what would your perfect production-line large indoor grow,

consist of, and look like

accepting that you would be in competition with others

 

[Botanist]

@Botanist but there is no "NEW" market.

It's an evolving situation where I must say the old producers are starting to be effected by the new.

Thats how a market works jack and it does not change any part of the debate. Government is now seeing that the black markets it has caused are free markets and as usual they are PROFITABLE. They want some of that profit, but unlike a mugger they also want your consent, so you have been presented with many horror story's to chose from in order to get you to sanction there theft.

Whats even more astounding is sanctioning there theft will not prevent the horror story's but in fact make them much more plausible.

It may not be that someone has actually came to you with horror story's. it has more to do with the devastating disease BIS. B.I.S. ( Belief In State) Is a mind numbing disease that takes years to kick in and in most cases incurable . Mostly children are infected at a young age unintentionally by the most nonthreatening carrier of the disease, the public school teacher. Slowly thought the years children begin to forget about questioning the world around them and except what they have been told. as all diseases BIS is not actually alive but only a fleck of DNA or an idea if you will that programs the host to live and act for the benefit of the diseases. Without command the host will act to promote the survival of BIS in actions such as voting yes to raise the school funds or promoting the regulation of agricultural products.

If the day ever comes that the hosts mind is awaken to the presence of the diseases he is usually cured immediately but sometimes it may take a day or 2. many people call this act of healing ones self "Waking up". Some known curs are

Reading The Structure of Liberty, The Law, Man Economy and State, The Machinery of Freedom, or even Atlas Shrugged. Many who have woken up refer to those who have not read Atlas Shrugged as a virgin.

another known way to "wake up" is to visit www.mises.org once a week.

 

[PotPatriot]

Where does the best produce you can buy come from? It certainly does not come from any government regulated retail channel. The best Produce purchasable is from Organic Back Yard or Small Farmer's who have NO regulation except the honor to produce the quality their father, and father's father before have always done, or just love of farming and producing quality greens.


The best cannabis will also always come from these people. The Government regulation standards are actually pretty horrible, If you research the Toothpaste we use which is regulated by a Government Agency Like Crest and Colgate, They all put (SLS) in their Toothpaste, the only brand that does not is Sensodyne. This is one example of a massly produced product, regulated by the government, allowed to put dangerous chemicals into your mouth...on a 2x daily basis if done properly (Hygiene is Key!)

There has been not one example in ANY industry where Government oversight has lead to a safer or less dangerous product, The consumer-producer is a much more caring and cautious person to what is involved with his product/medicine. These people are much more inclined to create a superior product just because of their morality, a piece of paper from an agency cannot change the perspective of someone's personality.

I had a family member who farmed for over 70 years of his life, never used a pesticide or chemical ever, Used pig shit to make methane to power his tractors, pressed corn into veg oil for his diesel rigs, and all around reused and used almost everything naturally, All systems to make fuel were contained and on low-lands as not to leach into the fields. Irrigation Came from underground spring's. You know what? He would have never been certified for any "organic" certification because of one simple thing...he never sprayed for bugs.....you hear me right....because he would never spray not even an "organic" pesticide onto his produce he could not be certified...this was in the late 90's.


These agencies are a SHAM and after one thing the $$$$$, they have no interest in your health and safety, someone who produces cannabis who would allow a patient to walk the grounds and see how it is produced and what the work condition's look like (unorganized/Trashy---Clean/Organized) and could assess the manufacturing for themselves would be a much better arrangement don't you think? People would walk the grounds of my Family Member's Farm and pick their own corn, and strawberries, and potatoes, and it was a family outing. How does large production facilities that would NEVER allow anyone from the outside to witness the production process or document what went into it a good thing....especially when they have a Government piece of paper that says they are A-OK.

 

[zippyhippy]

Weed is already being wrongly treated as a narcotic. To allow govt testing and stricter monitoring only perpetuates this fallacy. I personally am tired of stricter regulations than those imposed on bars, pharmacy's, and smoke shops(tobacco). I would prefer it to be regulated more along the lines of herbs at your local farmers markets as I believe the correlation is stronger. Valerian root, California poppies, and loquat leaves, are just a few herbs that are medicinally grown, used and sold openly without such regulation even though they have medicinal properties. Let the dispensaries decide how best to serve their clientèle and let the free market prevail.
zippy

P.S.- I voted no, let the dispensaries do optional testing

 

[Stoner Chick]

Anyone remember in the 80's how the government was talking about using paraquat on large outdoor cannabis grows?

 

[PotPatriot]

Actually from Wikipedia on Paraquat Pot:
During the late 1970s, a controversial program sponsored by the US government sprayed paraquat on marijuana fields in Mexico.[8] Since much of this marijuana was subsequently smoked by Americans, the US government's "Paraquat Pot" program stirred much debate. Perhaps in an attempt to deter people from using marijuana, representatives of the program warned that spraying rendered the crop unsafe to smoke. However, independent bodies have studied paraquat in this use. Jenny Pronczuk de Garbino,[9] stated: "no lung or other injury in marijuana users has ever been attributed to paraquat contamination". Also a United States Environmental Protection Agency manual states: "... toxic effects caused by this mechanism have been either very rare or nonexistent. Most paraquat that contaminates marijuana is pyrolyzed during smoking to dipyridyl, which is a product of combustion of the leaf material itself (including marijuana) and presents little toxic hazard."[10]


Huh.....Wonderful little bubble they try to make there is it not....spray something on a plant to KILL IT....does not kill it and it is safe to smoke, light up fuckers!

I guaran-FUCKING-tee the "Independent" bodies that tested were 3rd party .Gov agency fronts, Kind of like Facebook/Myspace/Google and the CIA....you think College aged kids came up with these massive software and Tech Corporations without SOME help from shadow Government Entities, No Fucking Way.

 

[KarmasWheele]

Hell yes.......I say test every gram being sold......and regulate ....the question is for testing...not modifying.....I would like to know whats being put in my weed..lf I were a consumer.....I know that my home grown will pass any standard being set.....I dont trust any orginized goverment......but.......I trust huge cash croppers even less......
for one you will need testing and regulation for WEED to be recognized on any kind of federal level as a medicine....maybe not the way it should be...but the way it is.......
2.with out goverment acceptence......There will allways be a rift between local and federal law...meaning anyone who operates a legit mmj business will never be 100% legit or secure....allways suseptable to federal invegtigation and audits....and what ever other kinds of red tape they can throw at you....again not the way it should be but the way it is.........

 

[Marywanna]

Actually from Wikipedia on Paraquat Pot:
During the late 1970s, a controversial program sponsored by the US government sprayed paraquat on marijuana fields in Mexico.[8] Since much of this marijuana was subsequently smoked by Americans, the US government's "Paraquat Pot" program stirred much debate. Perhaps in an attempt to deter people from using marijuana, representatives of the program warned that spraying rendered the crop unsafe to smoke. However, independent bodies have studied paraquat in this use. Jenny Pronczuk de Garbino,[9] stated: "no lung or other injury in marijuana users has ever been attributed to paraquat contamination". Also a United States Environmental Protection Agency manual states: "... toxic effects caused by this mechanism have been either very rare or nonexistent. Most paraquat that contaminates marijuana is pyrolyzed during smoking to dipyridyl, which is a product of combustion of the leaf material itself (including marijuana) and presents little toxic hazard."[10]


Huh.....Wonderful little bubble they try to make there is it not....spray something on a plant to KILL IT....does not kill it and it is safe to smoke, light up fuckers!

I guaran-FUCKING-tee the "Independent" bodies that tested were 3rd party .Gov agency fronts, Kind of like Facebook/Myspace/Google and the CIA....you think College aged kids came up with these massive software and Tech Corporations without SOME help from shadow Government Entities, No Fucking Way.

Yep. Thats how they were supposedly fought the "drug war". Idiots.

 

[ClosetAdvocate]

Keep the government out of it.

The free market is perfectly capable of assuring high quality cannabis. If there is a demand for mediocre cannabis it will exist, but if however there is a demand for high quality grade A connoisseur quality cannabis it will exist.

It should be about as regulated as herbal supplements are today.

The FDA despite all of their regulations, testing, and bureaucracy does not eliminate bad medicine. However, since marijuana has among the lowest toxicity the FDA shouldn't have a need to regulate cannabis such as they do with synthetic pharmaceuticals.

The only conceivable need for USDA/FDA regulation would be to assure low amounts of heavy metals (not sure if cannabis could have high levels of heavy metals :?) and an absence of Botrytis.

 

[twiztidbudsmoke]

i just want that usda organic certification on my bags of chronic, lol!

 

[SeniorBuzz]

it would be nice to know
what % of THC I am ingesting
before I ingest it.

It would be labeled as such

 

[SeniorBuzz]

if growers would only come together and

agree on acceptable standards

for the cultivation of marijuana

they will be the government

our government is (supposed to be) the voice of the people

knowledgeable responsible growers are the people

set the ground rules

otherwise, lobbyists will set them for you