New research shows that as marijuana started being legalized for recreational purposes in different states across the U.S., the reported cases of illicit grow sites within protected lands started falling.
The research findings, released in Ecological Economics, specifically point out that illegal grows on national forests saw a major decline in the Pacific Northwest after cannabis legalization started.
USDA’s Forest Service analyzed the available data on the illegal marijuana grow sites discovered and reported between 2004 and 2016. This data was in regard to 111 national forests. The researchers considered several factors, such as the retail price of pot, state laws, risks of being discovered running an illegal grow site, and many others.
The researchers then used that data to create six different simulations of what would happen to the number of illegal grows if marijuana policies changed.
For example, one simulation seeks to see how the number of these illegal grows would change if all the state laws legalizing both medical and recreational cannabis were revoked. Another simulation explores what would happen assuming that all the taxes on the legal marijuana on the market were waived/eliminated.
The researchers found that policies legalizing some form of marijuana are linked to a reduction in the number of reported cases of illegal grow sites within national forests.
The predictive models of the research also show that if the existing medical and recreational marijuana laws in different states were to be revoked, then the rate at which illegal grow sites would be discovered is likely to grow by double digit percentages while expanding the number of states with laws legalizing marijuana would reduce such grows by at least a fifth, as per the available 2017 data.
For example, if all the 23 states that had enacted medical cannabis laws by 2016 enacted recreational marijuana legalization laws as well, then the illegal grows within those areas would reduce by at least 35 percent and as high as 51 percent.
While the researchers found that marijuana decriminalization didn’t have any effect on illegal grows, they discovered that imposing harsher penalties on those convicted on charges related to illegal marijuana cultivation activities had an effect of reducing the number of illegal grows. Increasing law enforcement personnel in the national forests only had a negligible effect on the stats, according to the research.
The study concludes that of the two ways (legalization and increased enforcement) to reduce illegal grows in forests, legalization offers a more cost-effective way to preserve the forests from the attendant problems, such as the use of strong rodenticides, which come with the illegal grow sites.
Analysts think industry players like Chemistree Technology Inc. (CSE: CHM) (OTCQB: CHMJF) and Canopy Rivers Inc. (TSX.V: RIV) (OTC: CNPOF) aren’t surprised by the findings of this research since the cannabis industry has always asserted that legalization can stamp out the black market and its risks.
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