There are positives and negative consequences to the localization of cannabis cultivation. Discuss.
Cannabis is the worlds most commonly used drug in the world and has a long traditional history within developing countries. Since the 1980s western societies were unable to import cannabis due to a global clamp down on illicit drugs and started to produce it themselves (Potter, 2010). We will assess the global impact of this and see if this has made a positive or negative consequence on the localisation of cannabis cultivation, and if this has caused a normalised attitude towards the commodity. Although there is still limited information on topic this essay aims to highlight the effects of cannabis cultivation on society.
The localization of cannabis cultivation has caused it remains the most commonly used illegal drug in the UK (Home Office, 2013). This phenomenon had begun to develop a new trend with increasing recognition of the modern recreational use since the 1960s and its domestic production on a small and large scale (Szendrei, 1997; UNODC, 2006). Currently there are between 119-224 million cannabis users world wide with most of its consumers within western industrialized countries (UNODC, 2012). As society developed so did the availability of the techniques and equipment needed, to not only grow cannabis but also manipulate its potency through selective cross breeding used as a substitute to imported drugs, which negatively impacted on the health and wellbeing of it users (Decorte et al, 2011; Potter, 2010).
With little need for inter-regional trafficking and a plethora of information from social cannabis networks, books and the Internet on how to domestically cultivate cannabis, it made it simple for anyone to grow using artificial lighting, temperature control and nutrients (Decorate et al, 2011). Indoor cultivators have been linked to the increase in potency as the Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) levels heightened from 4.1% to an average of 16.2%. (Hardwick and King, 2008). According to Potter and Chatwin (2012) this has been closely linked to the Skunk form cannabis being introduced to the market, which made a negative impact on the health and the psychological and have raised numerous debates yet further research in mental health is still required (Potter, Clark, & Brown, 2008).
With high demands for cannabis and now a need for domestic cultivation within industrialized countries this provided financial motivations for all growers (Potter and Chatwin, 2012). However, it is also worth noting that there are a large amount of cannabis growers who are not motivated by financial gain, which has allowed us to understand those who have non-economic motivations (UNODC, 2012; Boyd and cater, 2014). Domestic cultivation used to take place in remote rural areas where it provided opportunity for cultivation, weak boarders for trafficking and protection from law enforcement often seen in developing countries and now in western societies such as the United States, Canada, New Zealand, United Kingdom and Belgium (Decorte et al, 2011; Hough et al., 2003; Potter, 2010). It could be said that the increased risk of detection by law enforcement and risk of being criminalized encouraged the shift from outdoor cultivation to indoor cultivation, which changed the importation industry into a production industry in order to facilitate the cannabis market consumers (Chin, Dandurand, Plecas, & Segger, 2000). This ‘import-substitution’ had supported producers to carefully crossbreed seed variants and increase the potency predictabilities by controlling it with artificial light and heat (Potter and Chatwin, 2012; Decorte, 2010).
Potter (2008) argued that the liberalized attitude towards cannabis could be due to the 2004 down grade of cannabis from a B class drug to a C class drug, although it was late put back to a class B in 2009. As the illegality of the commodity became more cost-effective than the import market it indirectly increased the
