will the legalization of marijuana ultimately lead to less potency

I'm sure that even in the 'days of yore' there were some shitty furniture makers who made low quality furniture. Haven't you ever seen the movie The Patriot?

These days you can still buy good, organic healthy fruit too. It obviously tends to be a tad more pricey. But why? Because it costs more to good take care of a plant so that the fruit is of a higher quality.

Morale of the story is that you get what you pay for.

 

come the day that there is name-brand marijuana, a LOOOOOOONNNGGGGGG way off, i'd imagine you'd have your major producers who make a more generic, lighter product (your Bud Light), and then smaller companies making craft... weed (your Pyramid, Avalanche, Schlafly, so on and so forth).
there is no doubt that potent strains aren't going to just up and disappear, and companies will work to push the envelope.

 

No. Like everyone else has said, just think about it.
Marijuana will be like cigarettes. There are really shitty packs of cigarettes that you can get for like a dollar or 2, while you can also turn around and get the imported cigarettes that cost 10 dollars for 7 of them.

 

I think people are being a bit naive about this topic. Not just in this thread, but in a lot of legalization threads.

As soon as big cigarette companies, big agriculture companied, and/or big pharmaceutical companies see that legalization is gaining traction and they can't stop it, they will hire lobbyists to make sure that legalization legislation is written to benefit them and decrease competition.

I imagine that it will mean a federal agency like the FDA or BATF will take over licensing producers and the licenses will be too expensive for the little guys to afford - basically keeping the little guys still outside of the law.

The big companies will cut any corners they can. If this means a lower quality product then that's OK with them because most people won't go through the trouble to grow their own if they can just go to a pot store and buy it for $25 for an ounce of finished, ready-to-smoke joints.

If potency goes down because of shorter grow times, that's fine with them. If potency goes down, then people will have to smoke more to get the same high, and that's a really good business plan for them.

And it's always cheaper to spray the fields with chemicals to keep pests away than it is to hire dozens of cultivators to do it manually, so you know they would be doused with chemicals there.

And they won't be growing in doors because that's expensive. Instead they will be growing only during season and during off seasons, the product will be filled with chemical preservatives to keep it "fresh".

Think about it. There is only one company that I know of that even claims that their cigarettes are additive free and most gas stations don't sell them. The rest are laden with dozens of chemicals because it's easier and cheaper to produce that way. And if they chemicals also produce a dependency in users, or reinforces the dependency that the product itself causes, then so much the better for them.

There aren't small mom-and-pop cigarette companies. There aren't boutique cigarettes for connoisseurs. There aren't even black market cigarettes to compete with the big tobacco companies. So to think that it will be different with pot after legalization is to be naive.

Edit to add:

And the MMJ market that exists today will not be a good model of what national, recreational MJ market will look like. It just won't scale up like that. And Congress won't even try to promote an environment that encourages MMJ producers to scale up. It will be all about money, lobbyists, and big business.

 

Rendalo. You just pooped on this thread. I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing. But regardless, you pooped on it.

 

On the other hand, there are many many more comparable cottage "alcohol" related businesses... wineries, microbreweries etc..

I dont buy into your doom and gloom on this.

 

^^me neither.

I think the weed market post legalization will be just like a beer market. A majority of shitty beer, and great small batch brews. In markets like these, you will always have a high quality product, and the cheaper, lower quality mass produced swill; I would say your theory is just as applicable to "dutch-ified" modern genetics. Many cosmetic compromises are made about the pot during breeding (different smells, exotic flavors, strange colors, high thc concentration instead of quality high) and all of these have a certain sacrifice of potency and quality of the high.

 

I pretty much doubt that commercialized product will be inferior for the simple reason that smokers will turn to growing their own if that happened.

 

Yea, Natural American Spirit brand cigarettes are what I smoked back when I did smoke. Expensive, but they're pretty much "organic" cigarettes, if they really are additive-free.

 

It will be like the wine market, where cheap generic brands are available, but a few brands pride themselves on an exelent (but expensive) product.

 

Ahh, wine's a much better comparison than beer. Pissed I didn't think of it.

 

Renaldo, you raise some good points. But keep in mind that MJ is easy to grow. Anyone who isn't satisfied with the commercial MJ will surely be able to buy some seeds, and plant them in their back yard.

 

Well, the way i see it, is if anything the potency will INCREASE due to legality. Think about it, if the weed becomes hash-potent then youll have to smoke less to get high, thus increasing quality and price if marijuana. So the gov can profit just as mush if they play their cards right

 

i wouldnt be suprised to see some type of licensing system and some token govmt payoffs... still worth it though, and like you say they wont get everyone lol.

Less potency aint gonna happen. Pot is better now than ever. I remember buy practically brown sacks of dirt weed 20 yrs ago, fairly common place, especially if you were just grabbing a dime sack from some punk.. I dont even know if I could find that stuff if I wanted it today. They'll be varieties but I predict the quality overall and even specific to certain "specialty versions" will continue to go up... exactly the opposite of you.

Thats because Med MMJ and easily accessible clones = woot... and some real good growers out there.

 

I know you can make your own beer and wine(as long as you don't sell it) and i can't imagine growing your own tabaccoo is illeagal. I don't see why growing cannabis would be any different.