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In reply to the discussion: U.S. teens smoke more marijuana, but back off other drugs -survey [View all]RainDog
(28,784 posts)and made "sea of green" the standard for marijuana production in the U.S. and Europe. Interestingly, 1% of America's energy consumption, so I read, is for indoor cultivation of cannabis.
Some people think that outdoor cultivation creates better strains, especially compared to hydroponically-grown cannabis. I liken it to tomatoes. Nothing beats a homegrown tomato. Dirt is a wonderful thing.
From what I've read - I haven't been there etc, a lot of the northern CA production includes outdoor.
I think that hybrids, which are so much of the norm now for commercial sales, sacrifice properties of indica and sativa for the benefit of size of the plant for growing. So, no doubt pure sativa or indica would have different effects, and different strains of the same would, too.
I've known people with dispensary cards, etc. too and the stuff stank to high heaven, though some also smelled like citrus, was sticky, with little colored strands, from white to orange to red, and glittery-looking white or clear crystals, and, though I cannot speak about my personal experience since I'm not one of those people with access, I was informed these were all high quality.
When cannabis is legal, I can see a market, like the micro-beer industry, that will have special local strains and also imports from other nations from landraces in particular regions.
I'd much rather have people in Afghanistan growing cannabis than poppies for heroin. Last I read up on this, a lot of farmers there had switched to cannabis. The European market for hash is stronger than that in the U.S., also from what I read, and these farmers were creating hashish for that market.
And, as far as this new study goes in relation to all this - before this year, through the aughts, up to 2009, cannabis use among teenagers fell. So, with cannabis legal, medically, since 1996, the sky did not fall for teenagers and cannabis use.
I would imagine, however, when cannabis is made legal, there will be an uptick in use temporarily, but that will, again, fall.