In the fight between cannabis legalization versus prohibition, the cannabis industry has recently gone a step further in its fight for legalization. Now, with the help of a leading government research center, they are pushing for their own solutions.
“The Cannabis Industry Group has launched a campaign to seek approval from the U.S. government to stamp out products that it claims are not “true” pot. According to a press release sent to media Thursday, the Washington-based trade association is pressing for “a federal standard” that would define “the term ‘marijuana’” to mean products that meet the criteria of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. Marijuana is classified as a Schedule I drug in the United States, meaning it is highly addictive and has no medical uses. Currently, marijuana is only fully legal for medical use in 25 states.”
A newly formed lobbying group called the Coalition for a Drug Free America has introduced a bill that would require that cannabis be taxed at the same rate as a drug such as aspirin or ibuprofen. They’ve also introduced a bill in the U.S. Congress to give marijuana smokers a “green seal” stamp that would allow them to purchase marijuana with a prescription from their doctor.
ALBANY, NY — An industry white paper published Tuesday by New York’s Castetter Cannabis Group includes important sustainability recommendations such as a certification procedure that highlights energy-efficient cannabis growers and a tax incentive to supplement it. State authorities should also establish a plan for data gathering and analysis of license holders’ activities, according to the report.
Its suggestions reaffirm legislators’ desire to protect the state’s nascent sector, but they propose a different approach based on incentives rather than efficiency restrictions.
Kate Hruby, the group’s principal policy analyst and co-author of the report, stated, “We’re arguing for a performance-based approach.”
State Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy, D-Albany, submitted wording for a bill in mid-March, before adult-use cannabis was legalized in New York, to guarantee the nascent sector is structured to meet with emissions regulations that would minimize its potential effect on the state’s ambitious climate objectives.
If approved, the bill would force cannabis producers to use environmentally friendly methods, allowing New York to regulate them up front. Early legalization jurisdictions like Colorado and California, on the other hand, have gone back to attempt to reduce emissions after producers were already licensed and operating.
Fahy’s plan, which contains limitations on lighting power density and requirements for efficient heating and cooling systems for indoor grow operations, was duplicated by state Sen. Michelle Hinchey, D-Saugerties, in April.
“What our bill does is it makes energy efficiency a priority in the indoor growing process by forcing applicants to disclose their energy efficiency plans as part of their application,” Hinchey said, adding that the law’s details are still being worked out. “We’re establishing resource efficiency standards for farmers to ensure that we don’t have to repeat this process in the future.”
However, Hruby and her Castetter Cannabis Group (CCG) co-authors believe the fragmented sector is fertile with innovation after its “long life in the shadows,” based on their expertise producing and processing controlled hemp (low-THC cannabis) as well as their understanding of the legacy market. They believe that before imposing precise efficiency limits and technological requirements, fringe ideas should be promoted.
“We want New York to be the most creative in terms of energy efficiency, but we need to collect the data first,” Hruby said. “The industry is worried that it will be overburdened before it ever gets off the ground,” says the source.
Indoor grow facilities generate higher emissions than outside grows, according to both the legislative draft and the CCG white paper. “A significant amount of legal cannabis is cultivated indoors primarily for quality control and security,” according to a study published this spring by Colorado State University’s Hailey M. Summers, Evan Sproul, and Jason C. Quinn, though the CCG white paper noted that on the black market, indoor grows also served to conceal illicit operations.
Summers and her colleagues studied greenhouse gas emissions from indoor cannabis businesses throughout the United States, finding that producers produced gasses equal to between 2,283 and 5,184 kilos of carbon dioxide per kilogram of dried cannabis flower.
Some farmers, such as Gail and Amy Hepworth of Hempire State Growers in the Hudson Valley, have advocated for the advantages of growing hemp and adult-use cannabis plants outdoors due to the greater carbon cost of indoor grows. While the sisters acknowledge that fast developing indoor grow systems provide greater yield and weather protection, they are proud of their organic farm’s outside grow method.
Amy Hepworth, the operation’s president and main grower, stated, “It would be a great integrated facility in the agricultural community.” She said that it’s a crop that requires a lot of time and attention – they even use blockchain technology to monitor each plant – but she enjoys growing it. “It’s like, we know it’s difficult to grow tomatoes outside, yet they do. And they’re delectable, right?”
However, according to Aldous Lloyd, CCG’s cultivation expert, although some products, like as cannabis produced for extracts, may function well outdoors, removing indoor growing for smokable cannabis flower production is not feasible. He believes that the greenhouse technology sector will need to think about how to innovate.
“The issue with being outside is pollution. “You have to worry about all sorts of funguses and viruses that fall on the plants,” Lloyd added, pointing out that most outside grows aren’t as well-controlled.
Several academics at Berkeley’s Cannabis Research Center have taken these concerns into account in their evaluations of the status of cannabis and environmental research.
Ariani C. Wartenberg, who co-authored a review paper on the issue earlier this year, stated, “We discovered relatively few scientific, published research on the topic.”
Given the size of the business, Wartenberg believes the absence of data is startling. In California, and other places where the climate allows for robust outdoor cannabis growth, there is a pre-legalization trend for growers to tuck their cannabis crops in out-of-sight locations where the grows can have a significant negative impact on part of the environment; in California, and other places where the climate allows for robust outdoor cannabis growth, there is a trend for growers to tuck their cannabis crops in out-of-sight locations where the grows can have a substantial negative impact on part of the environment
Van Butsic, a member of the group who has been researching cannabis for nearly seven years, said he became interested in the area since there were few methodical approaches to the subject.
While more study is required to understand how to make cannabis farming more effective, Butsic believes that “cannabis can definitely be produced sustainably various ways.”
He pointed out that, in comparison to other crops, a disproportionate amount of attention has been given to cannabis’ environmental effects, particularly as the sector has emerged from the shadows. Finally, even while operating in the black market and not as licensed cultivators, growers in the United States have an effect on the environment.
Complaints from constituents have been difficult for municipal governments to balance, according to Bustic. They say things like, “We have too many cannabis farms, we need to create very stringent licensing procedures,” he said, “without understanding that all of the cannabis farms they’re angry about are already illegal and will not be participating in the permission process.”
“We need to concentrate on the individuals who are not in the legal market and attempt to persuade them to join the legal market,” Bustic said, referring to California, which has a more mature industry with environmental regulations and licensing processes that are already stringent. That, I believe, is where you’ll see the greatest environmental benefit.”
The leadership of the new industry’s regulatory agencies, the Office of Cannabis Management and the Cannabis Control Board, has yet to be named by New York’s government officials. They will outline how licensing will work in the state once they are created.
A new group promoting the cannabis industry is asking the federal government to create a national “green seal” that would encourage consumers to buy cannabis products from producers who are registered with the new group. The group would also use the green seal as an incentive to lobby for state and federal tax credits for small producers of the plant. The proposal, put forth by a new group called the Cannabis Trade Federation, is a first step toward what the industry hopes will be permanent changes to federal laws governing cannabis.. Read more about how do tax credits work and let us know what you think.
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- ccia ny renews
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