Marty's Travels

My house has wheels

Pot: Recent news

It’s been off-and-on rain and thunderstorms here, so I have plenty of time to browse the news.

The Washington Liquor Control Board said on Friday (yet to be confirmed) they were seeking to raise the amount of marijuana growing space from 2 million square feet to 8 million square feet for the state. The 2 million number was a guess, based on no dependable information whatsoever. The 8 million number is just as flakey.

By my estimates, the current 260 licensed growers have about 3.5 million square feet if they produced at 100% efficiency. Closer would be 50%, so about 1.7 million sq ft. I have no idea why they think the 2 million number is wrong, and why quadrupling it is better.

California has been warned by the DOJ that they have to get their “free market” medical thing under control or face DEA raids and such. I am not optimistic that CA can do this.

Apparently the 100% free market model isn’t satisfactory to the feds, such things need to be stopped. In the US, no market is too small not to regulate and tax. Washington’s control over the medical side is just as free-wheeling, but there is a good chance they can address the problem this winter. Both states need to get some regulation in place really fast or there will be some dramatic busts and raids.

It looks like Colorado is going to come down hard on the edibles market (cake, cookies,and candies are infused with marijuana extracts), effectively closing it down completely. There is a good reason for these products to exist, but not in a retail environment. Crafting the regulations is a tangled mess of myth, politics, and money far beyond the capabilities of the typical state legislatures to resolve.

There will be quite a push-back on this, as edibles are proving to be quite profitable. But to me, a cookie that costs $60 and feeds 12 is really silly.