Despite warnings of potential recourse from House Republicans, D.C. adults aged 21 and up can legally consume marijuana for recreational purposes as of 12:01 a.m. Thursday. Under Initiative 71, individuals can possess two ounces of marijuana, consume it on private property, and share an ounce with a friend.
Residents can also cultivate marijuana plants at home, although doing so is likely to be far too expensive and time-consuming for casual smokers.
Under the new law, people can grow six plants and flower three, but cultivation requires equipment, space, and money to get started. Speaking to ThinkProgress, instructor David DeGraff Hamill of the Grow School in Colorado outlined the steps required to get a plant from seed to harvest — a process that takes three to four months.
Individuals need about 25 square feet for a proper growing enclosure. They also have to purchase the necessary equipment, including a reflector, ballast, light, and exhaust fan, which costs $800-$1,400. Thereafter, the electricity and fertilizer used to facilitate growth costs $400 for three plants.
Three plants can yield 10–18 ounces.
Hamill, who’s hosting an educational seminar in conjunction with Comfy Tree in D.C., sees the endeavor as a long-term investment. This weekend, he plans to outline the city’s legal regulations, teach grow theory, and walk through the process of watering, fertilizing, and trimming. “It’s not rocket science to grow cannabis at home,” he told ThinkProgress.
However, a local marijuana dealer expressed the same sentiment as many activists, stating simply, “The average person isn’t trying to grow it.”
Sitting in his apartment, the D.C. native, who asked to be referred to as Seymour, explained that growing marijuana takes a lot of time and energy that few people are willing to spend. In that respect, Initiative 71’s growth provision won’t have much of an impact. Seymour started selling pot to his friends when he was 16 years old and makes $1,000-$1,500 per week. Over time he’s learned that most people want a simple, straightforward way to procure marijuana, so buying and selling in the city tends to happen among inner circles of friends.
Even if businesses were legally permitted to sell pot, as they do in Colorado and Washington, it would be more efficient and cost effective for D.C. residents to stick to the old ways of securing a product. Moreover, people aren’t interested in paying taxes, and would rather avoid dispensaries altogether. So with respect to the changes that go into effect tomorrow, “the average person knows about legalization, but doesn’t care,” he said. An anonymous client, who bought some weed during the conversation with Seymour, had similar views.
Allen St. Pierre, the executive director of National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML), agreed. Regardless of whether the consumer is at the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder or one of the city’s high-profile figures, “the so-called black market will be minimally impacted by the change of law,” he said.
“[Elites] have cultivated longtime relationships with an unimpaired marijuana seller,” St. Pierre continued. “[Dealers have] a large, somewhat closed network for people to sell cannabis to. Individuals who buy it often have [their seller] visit their home, or they visit the private home of the seller. That’s a very hard relationship to interfere with.” People also use government and private shipping services to ship products from the West, or simply rely on friends.
Indeed, in states where dispensaries can legally sell recreational pot, it’s still cheaper to purchase marijuana from someone on the street. Businesses that do particularly well are ones with high quality weed, and a wide variety of it. But in Colorado, the unregulated market is still thriving. Since individual street dealers don’t have to worry about licensing fees, taxes, or regulatory expenses, many choose not to work for official dispensaries at all.
Should a significant percentage of D.C. residents decide to grow pot at home, however, Corey Barnette sees room for future accidents. Barnette, who owns a medical cannabis cultivation center called District Growers, LLC, contends that most people are uninformed about the growing process, which can be hazardous. “They don’t know how to differentiate between harmful substances and substances that are not harmful,” he said. “They may not know when to stop using certain substances that may not be harmful in the early stages, but become harmful later on.”
Home cultivators could misuse certain extracts, and create a public health risk. To minimize health concerns, Barnette said that Congress and city officials need to legalize official businesses where interested consumers can purchase marijuana products.
Additionally, home grown pot won’t necessarily match the quality of weed that D.C. residents have come to expect on the unregulated market. According to Barnette, individuals who cultivate marijuana at home probably won’t have the variety that a dispensary can offer.
But for now, the 70 percent of D.C. voters who supported Initiative 71 seem less interested in home cultivation and more excited about the removal of barriers to possession. For African Americans who were eight times more likely to be arrested for possession than white consumers, tomorrow officially marks a tremendous victory.
“There really is no need for headlines about chaos or mass confusion, because there really isn’t that great a change of law at the most fundamental levels,” Allen concluded. “Symbolically it’s terrific. The ability to reduce the amount of minorities and poor that get drawn into the criminal justice system is a terrific benefit from the law changing.”