4 ms·

I'm ready for Texas to follow suite. You think corn, wheat, cotton, cows, and oil are profitable? Wait till the congressmen and farmers understand how valuable

I'm ready for Texas to follow suite. You think corn, wheat, cotton, cows, and oil are profitable? Wait till the congressmen and farmers understand how valuable MJ is as a cash crop, I predict legalization even in our red state within a decade.

japhyr 12y ago
That would certainly push the conversation on a national/ federal level. It seems most of the legalization efforts have focused on in-state use. If one of a state's primary goals was to become a producer serving other states, there would be pretty strong motivation to bring federal policy in line with what's happening at the state level.
wavefunction 12y ago
I think industrial hemp holds even more promise commercially, but I suppose the marginal profit by weight on cannabis vs. hemp is greater since it's either slated for recreational or medicinal uses rather than the generally less-sexy uses for hemp fibers and oils.
- arca_vorago 12y ago
  I agree regarding hemp. It's a very versatile and relatively hardy crop, and with shorter growing cycles than other crops, so the same applies to it.
toyg 12y ago
Won't prices eventually start to fall, though, the more legal it becomes? One much-repeated theory explaining support for the initial wave of prohibition was that weed (eh) was too easy to grow, and as such it was depressing prices for a number of other crops. If that's true, I would expect states where the agriculture sector still holds significant power, to be the staunchest bastions of prohibition.
- wavefunction 12y ago
  Why would it depress prices for other crops? The economic phenomena you're describing is called "replacement" but it's not like farmers aren't growing opium poppies because cannabis is so easy to grow.
  - toyg 12y ago
    Cannabis and opium poppies cannot be used to produce the same end-product. From what I understand, hemp can replace cotton in most end-products; being much easier to grow (and hence cheaper / more plentiful), it could potentially flood markets earlier reserved to cotton, hence depressing prices. Say you have two farmers; one grows cannabis, the other cotton. Because cannabis is easier to grow, the cannabis farmer has more stock to sell, and if demand from the drug market does not absorb it all, he'll try to sell it on the cotton market, potentially igniting a price war with the second farmer.
    - a_c_s 12y ago
      If cotton is an inferior crop, why would we want to keep planting so much of it? In this scenario where hemp & marijuana are legal, cotton farmers could start growing hemp too if that is more profitable.
      - dllthomas 12y ago
        There is a lot of different infrastructure for large scale cotton farming versus large scale hemp farming. Those heavily invested in the former have obvious incentive to keep it profitable rather than having to retool. That isn't to say that it's economically most efficient, but that it can certainly motivate propaganda and eventually legislation (and my understanding is that there's some historical evidence that this is what happened, but that it's not completely conclusive).
      - delecti 12y ago
        There are absurd amounts of cotton subsidies in this country, to the extent that it's cheaper to ship American grown cotton to factories where it's made into shirts. Typically the opposite happens, where we import crops (cocoa beans, etc) and make the products here to save money.
tuan5 12y ago
The whole country needs to legalize MJ. what a great plan to boost our depression!!
aaron-lebo 12y ago
It is so hard to say. Texas very much has a libertarian streak on the right and the cities are blue, but there are so many social conservatives around that it is hard to get a bead on how realistic that is.
- hkarthik 12y ago
  I've been in Texas 10 years, and I don't see this happening until things change at the federal level. Same with gay marriage. Things don't change in Texas until the tanks roll in.
seanalltogether 12y ago
Texas still has a lot of dry counties that would probably fight pretty hard against marijuana legalization. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dry_communities_by_U.S._state http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dry_communities_by_U.S....

japhyr 12y ago

That would certainly push the conversation on a national/ federal level. It seems most of the legalization efforts have focused on in-state use. If one of a state's primary goals was to become a producer serving other states, there would be pretty strong motivation to bring federal policy in line with what's happening at the state level.

wavefunction 12y ago

I think industrial hemp holds even more promise commercially, but I suppose the marginal profit by weight on cannabis vs. hemp is greater since it's either slated for recreational or medicinal uses rather than the generally less-sexy uses for hemp fibers and oils.

arca_vorago 12y ago
I agree regarding hemp. It's a very versatile and relatively hardy crop, and with shorter growing cycles than other crops, so the same applies to it.

toyg 12y ago

Won't prices eventually start to fall, though, the more legal it becomes? One much-repeated theory explaining support for the initial wave of prohibition was that weed (eh) was too easy to grow, and as such it was depressing prices for a number of other crops. If that's true, I would expect states where the agriculture sector still holds significant power, to be the staunchest bastions of prohibition.

wavefunction 12y ago
Why would it depress prices for other crops? The economic phenomena you're describing is called "replacement" but it's not like farmers aren't growing opium poppies because cannabis is so easy to grow.
- toyg 12y ago
  Cannabis and opium poppies cannot be used to produce the same end-product. From what I understand, hemp can replace cotton in most end-products; being much easier to grow (and hence cheaper / more plentiful), it could potentially flood markets earlier reserved to cotton, hence depressing prices. Say you have two farmers; one grows cannabis, the other cotton. Because cannabis is easier to grow, the cannabis farmer has more stock to sell, and if demand from the drug market does not absorb it all, he'll try to sell it on the cotton market, potentially igniting a price war with the second farmer.
  - a_c_s 12y ago
    If cotton is an inferior crop, why would we want to keep planting so much of it? In this scenario where hemp & marijuana are legal, cotton farmers could start growing hemp too if that is more profitable.
    - dllthomas 12y ago
      There is a lot of different infrastructure for large scale cotton farming versus large scale hemp farming. Those heavily invested in the former have obvious incentive to keep it profitable rather than having to retool. That isn't to say that it's economically most efficient, but that it can certainly motivate propaganda and eventually legislation (and my understanding is that there's some historical evidence that this is what happened, but that it's not completely conclusive).
    - delecti 12y ago
      There are absurd amounts of cotton subsidies in this country, to the extent that it's cheaper to ship American grown cotton to factories where it's made into shirts. Typically the opposite happens, where we import crops (cocoa beans, etc) and make the products here to save money.

tuan5 12y ago

The whole country needs to legalize MJ. what a great plan to boost our depression!!

aaron-lebo 12y ago

It is so hard to say. Texas very much has a libertarian streak on the right and the cities are blue, but there are so many social conservatives around that it is hard to get a bead on how realistic that is.

hkarthik 12y ago
I've been in Texas 10 years, and I don't see this happening until things change at the federal level. Same with gay marriage. Things don't change in Texas until the tanks roll in.

seanalltogether 12y ago

Texas still has a lot of dry counties that would probably fight pretty hard against marijuana legalization. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dry_communities_by_U.S._state http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_dry_communities_by_U.S....