The growing acceptance of marijuana use—both medicinal and recreational—has created a correspondingly steep increase in the number of users growing the plant at home. This upturn, happening faster than just about anyone predicted, has led to some surprising turns.
Parenting courses in Colorado now include how to talk to your kids about your growing habits. The District of Columbia’s State Fair this year added a marijuana-growing competition (the prize for “Best Bud”). Ohio voters this fall will decide the fate of a constitutional amendment allowing every adult in the state to grow up to four adult plants at home.
What is left unsaid in all these stories is the dramatic shift from commercial growing of marijuana plants to home-based cultivation: a disruption in the nascent commercial marijuana agriculture industry that itself disrupted the black market just a few years ago. As recently as a year ago, investors proposed moving marijuana holdings from a biotech stock to an agricultural commodity because of the explosion in share prices of the leading growers. Six months ago, marijuana headlines trumpeted the “green rush” that promised wealth to commercial growers, with investors seeking opportunities to put money into these businesses.
Not everyone is happy about the increase, however. Aurora Police Sergeant David Pendleton said that the increase in home growers in the Colorado town creates a public safety issue because people were overworking electrical systems and mixing too many chemicals. “It’s causing fires and it’s creating an environment that is dangerous to public safety as well,” he said. In nearby Oregon, the Ashland City Council is mulling limits on home growing, citing the “noxious odors” associated with the plants. Ultimately the council decided not to limit home growth, much to the disappointment of Councilor Greg Lemhouse. Comparing marijuana to beer, Lemhouse said, “Home brew doesn’t have the noxious odors that home grown does. I look forward to coming back to discuss the cultivation issue.”
While these concerns may be valid, I don’t believe they will slow the meteoric rise of the home agriculture industry. For example, Oregon’s leading newspaper now features a “how to grow” section in its pages, promising to hone the skills of the home grower. And there are already on the market turnkey home grow boxes and grow cabinets from companies like Fullbloom Hydroponics, which will eliminate the odors and electrical problems raised by Sgt. Pendleton and Councilor Lemhouse. This genie is out of the bottle; I believe the commercial marijuana industry will be disrupted for good, much in the same way that commercial film development was disrupted by the advent of color printers in the home. While home marijuana growers won’t put the commercial farms out of business, the “grow your own” movement is here to stay.