As a grower, how do you deal with incoherent/wacky state laws covering growing and possession?

[BII]

Great in theory, not so much in reality.

Speaking only for Colorado; there's typically a "shelf life" that you're allowed to store products for, set up by regulation. There was a rule change recently where flower can't be stored for longer than 1 year in Colorado, which you'd be surprised how many grows had 3+ year old flower (that are stored in plastic totes with no humidity controls. Boone Farm actually used tortillas in their flower bins lol (you can't do that, they got nailed with fines for it.)

2nd, there's regulations for products that are moldy/defective, that usually involves retesting them several times, which gets to be ungodly expensive. If flower fails for pathogens in Colorado, it has to be retested THREE TIMES. That's actually a big reason why many farms don't produce a variety of cultivars, because every single one is subject to the same testing regulations.

If a product is found in a dispensary to be moldy or contaminated, they will recall the entire batch. The dispensary is also likely to send the product back to the farm (a lot of sales are done on consignment.)

It's likely cheaper to just run a new batch than it is trying to scrape the mold off the top.

It sounds like the CO growers you're familiar with are not very sophisticated. It seems relatively simple and cost-effective for commercial operations to store herbal material sealed in inert atmosphere (N or CO2) in freezers, avoiding all new microbial growth and other contamination (insects, mice, etc.) and also largely stopping chemical breakdown of cannabinoids and terpenes.

I presume the problems you cite with heavy metals (or other chemical) and mold contamination are mostly with outdoor grows? [But how does that even happen to commercial scale legal growers, who can better control soil/media, nutrients, water, etc.?]

 

[Saltysparrows]

So just to chime in, I live in Missouri. It’s recreational here and you can buy a cultivators license for $100 that’s good for three years. With said license, you can have 18 plants at once. Six seedlings, six in veg, and six flowering. I’m not 100% sure on the possession laws. But in all honesty, nobody here is checking. On anything. I’ve never had a personal cultivar license. The state is solely interested in what the commercial farms and the dispensaries are doing. Not only are Missouri cannabis laws in the commercial industry, ridiculously strict, but they are ever changing. I worked in upper management for the largest cultivator in Missouri for a couple of years and , witness firsthand the bullshit that these companies have to go through. I also worked at the lab for this company when I first started where concentrates and edibles are made. I don’t know about other states, but this company in Missouri uses premium flower that has been tested for mold and other things before it’s even sent to the lab. Also in Missouri, flower has a two year shelflife. That goes for whether it’s sold directly to a consumer, or sent to a lab to be distilled or made in a concentrates. The very first testing that flower in Missouri goes through is for mold, and I’ve seen way too much flower be destroyed because of that. But it is extremely regulated here. By the time any products, other than flower, reach the dispensaries, it’s already gone through 2 types of testing with at least 2 different 3rd party testing labs.
And our prices here are ridiculously high on most everything cannabis.

 

[KingRatt]

Being in california things are pretty chill if you grow for personal use, if youre gonna push the numbers then i suggest you dont piss off the neighbors so nobody has a reason to single you out. I really dont think they care about Mr. Smalltime. Now i live in California and just checked the laws today to re verify and the law states that you can have up to 6 mature plants or 12 immature. So if i have 6 plants flowering then i read the law as i can start 6 more but the first 6 need to finish before the next round is in flower. So the way i read it is you can have a substantial perpetual grow that should be able to fulfill the needs of any adults in said house, i did look up if it was per person or per household and all the info i found said per household, something to think about if you live in CA.

 

[BII]

Being in california things are pretty chill if you grow for personal use, if youre gonna push the numbers then i suggest you dont piss off the neighbors so nobody has a reason to single you out. I really dont think they care about Mr. Smalltime. Now i live in California and just checked the laws today to re verify and the law states that you can have up to 6 mature plants or 12 immature. So if i have 6 plants flowering then i read the law as i can start 6 more but the first 6 need to finish before the next round is in flower. So the way i read it is you can have a substantial perpetual grow that should be able to fulfill the needs of any adults in said house, i did look up if it was per person or per household and all the info i found said per household, something to think about if you live in CA.

In CA [and where you are], as the law reads (vs. enforcement);
Can you legally give cannabis to others, or is no transfer at all allowed?
Are there any limits on the possession amount allowed growers per household? For ex., 6 indoors auto plants putting out 4 ounces each with 4 harvests/year = 96 ounces (6 lbs.). So in just a year, after consumption a household could accumulate >5 lbs. of stash. And in CA, I presume growers could grow much larger plants, lots more outdoors. Can a household possess say 10, 20, 30, etc. pounds?

 

[KingRatt]

In CA [and where you are], as the law reads (vs. enforcement);
Can you legally give cannabis to others, or is no transfer at all allowed?
Are there any limits on the possession amount allowed growers per household? For ex., 6 indoors auto plants putting out 4 ounces each with 4 harvests/year = 96 ounces (6 lbs.). So in just a year, after consumption a household growing could accumulate >5 lbs.; or 2x as much (10 lb.). And in CA, I presume growers could grow larger plants outdoors. Can a household possess say 10, 20, 30, etc. pounds?

Those over the age of 21 may possess up to 28.5 grams flower or up to 8 grams concentrate, but for those who go over may recieve a fine or jail time as the law states. I cant speak from personal experience but i know a few people who have been unlucky enough to end up on the wrong side of the law amd thise i know that served jail time were served a sentence of a one day per pound they were in possession. So 30lbs would get you 30 days. Plus everything that comes with that. Fines etc.

 

[KingRatt]

Those over the age of 21 may possess up to 28.5 grams flower or up to 8 grams concentrate, but for those who go over may recieve a fine or jail time as the law states. I cant speak from personal experience but i know a few people who have been unlucky enough to end up on the wrong side of the law amd thise i know that served jail time were served a sentence of a one day per pound they were in possession. So 30lbs would get you 30 days. Plus everything that comes with that. Fines etc.

Now please dont quote me as these are the laws which i could find and everybody should do their own research for the laws and areas you are in.

 

[BII]

Now please dont quote me as these are the laws which i could find and everybody should do their own research for the laws and areas you are in.

So even CA, presumably the leader, has incoherent laws allowing a rather good amount of household growing but not possession of what's grown.

But were those sentenced to about 1 day per pound found guilty of growing/possessing too much or dealing/selling? Or does even CA consider having a few pounds automatically equals dealing/selling?

 

[WildBill]

OK, so in NY can legally possess up to 5 lb./household. But what does the state expect home growers to do with all that cannabis? Surely you can't sell it. Can you legally give it away to patients, friends, etc.?

Changing topic a little: Are there areas in the US (or anywhere) with organized (fully legal or not) farmers markets, swap meets, flea markets, crafts shows, cannabis clubs, areas/booths at large outdoor concerts, etc. including regular home growers openly selling or trading what they've grown? If nothing else, it's be nice to be able to trade small amounts with other growers, do some socializing; and getting some cost recovery ($) would be good too..

Now that would be just too damn logical to do something like that, so you know it's not going to happen,

 

[KingRatt]

So even CA, presumably the leader, has incoherent laws allowing a rather good amount of household growing but not possession of what's grown.

But were those sentenced to about 1 day per pound found guilty of growing/possessing too much or dealing/selling? Or does even CA consider having a few pounds automatically equals dealing/selling?

The ones i know that got a day a pound were caught transporting amd i didnt ask the specifics of their charges. Searching thru endless misinformation gets hard to know whats right and real.

 

[KingRatt]

Now that would be just too damn logical to do something like that, so you know it's not going to happen,

We have a cannabis swapmeet in San Diego! Pretty sure its weekly. Its run by a group of local growers and usually the best prices and quality. Plus youll find more unique strains to choose from than the standard Cookies, Cake, and OG’s that flood the dispos around here. Local glass blowers have their work for sale and theres usually a dab station or two and the selection is always huge compared to the dispos. Its not legal in any way, is advertised by word of mouth, and moves locations regularly. We also have huge grow conventions at the local Scottish Rite’s Masonic Temple two or three times a year, no canna there, but all the new grow tech and nutrient samples and everything related to growing is there. Been to a couple of those, theyre pretty fun and you usually go home with enough samples for a few grows lol. I love seeing the huge expensive all in one modular grow inventions. They look like medical machines and always have a unique or novel approach to growing canna in smaller spaces. .