- 20 tons of illegally grown marijuana was seized in Riverside County, California raids - The author argues that the honorable thing to do would be to give the seized marijuana to cannabis growers affected by recent wildfires, or make it available for public purchase to help replenish the industry - Alternatively, the marijuana could be processed and sold at a lower tax rate by affected growers to generate funds and support businesses in the legal cannabis industry - However, the marijuana was ultimately burned by law enforcement instead of being utilized

1. 10/1/2020 What is the Honorable Thing to Do with 20 Tons of Illegal Weed?
https://cannabis.net/blog/opinion/what-is-the-honorable-thing-to-do-with-20-tons-of-illegal-weed 2/14
20 TONS OF WEED
What is the Honorable Thing to Do with 20
Tons of Illegal Weed?
The honorable thing to do with 20 tons of illegal marijuana

2. 10/1/2020 What is the Honorable Thing to Do with 20 Tons of Illegal Weed?
https://cannabis.net/blog/opinion/what-is-the-honorable-thing-to-do-with-20-tons-of-illegal-weed 3/14
Posted by:
Reginald Reefer, today at 12:00am
The honorable thing to do with 20 tons of illegal weed
On one hand we have raging res threatening one of the most lucrative months within the cannabis industry –
CropTober. On the other hand, you have mass illegal cannabis grow operations in Southern California and many other
legal states popping up everywhere.
In fact, according to Mercury News – “20 Tons of Illegally Grown Marijuana was seized in Riverside County Raids –
[Source (https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/09/25/20-tons-of-illegally-grown-marijuana-seized-in-riverside-county-
raids/)] This isn’t anything new, but it is signi cant. 20 Tons is not a little amount of weed and with some legal cannabis
farms being negatively a ected by the California res – don’t you think it would be proper for the government to give
the cannabis to these growers? Or at the very least make it available for public purchase like they do with other illegally
seized goods such as cars and so forth?
Logistics

3. 10/1/2020 What is the Honorable Thing to Do with 20 Tons of Illegal Weed?
https://cannabis.net/blog/opinion/what-is-the-honorable-thing-to-do-with-20-tons-of-illegal-weed 4/14
I understand that selling cannabis has several requirements in terms of quality. Illegally grown weed typically don’t
follow best regulatory practices. For illegal growers, speed and e ciency is king. If you can get more weed in the
shortest amount of time – you’re pulling a Sheen (WINNING).
In that case – making the cannabis publically available may seem counter-productive according to “legal standards”. But
let’s take a moment to re ect that the illegal cannabis was destined for public consumption anyhow and people –
despite knowing it is untested and could potentially contain trace elements of whatever-the-cides; they still buy it.
Otherwise – there wouldn’t be 20-tons of cannabis growing in Southern California
Thus – perhaps the workaround could be that these companies or farms that have been negatively a ected by the res
can go – buy a lot, treat and ensure that the plant is the best it possibly can be. Then sell it as “Seized weed” with a lower
[tax free] price tag. Perhaps a small “Enviro-tax” on the seized weed to help replenish the devastation caused by these
illegal grows. But other than that – no state or federal tax. Just support for these businesses.

4. 10/1/2020 What is the Honorable Thing to Do with 20 Tons of Illegal Weed?
https://cannabis.net/blog/opinion/what-is-the-honorable-thing-to-do-with-20-tons-of-illegal-weed 5/14
Can we do this?
What’s the alternative? We burn 20-tons of weed after it already devastated the ecology and get nothing in return?
Sometimes prohibitionists, for the sake of their ideals, would scorch the earth so nobody can get any bene t from weed
– ever!
I believe that if we change the laws and introduce the “Robin Hood Act” or something similar – where, those who are
directly being a ected by Cartel operations, stand in line to receive bene ts rst. If you are paying federal and state
taxes – shouldn’t you be receiving compensation?
Or are you simply paying exuberant amounts of money annually to “play the game”? What protections other than “it’s
legal” do you get? I think it would be more than fair for those who are competing with black market operations AND
paying all the legal fees for staying in business should reap the bene ts of illegally seized weed.
Who’s with me?
What happened to the 31,878 plants?
Well in good fashioned “justice logic” they burned it all. Yes – you heard that right. With California wild res burning up
cannabis crops – Johnny law thought it would be a spectacular idea to “burn cannabis crops” as a genuine “Fuck you!” to
the legal market.
While they may think they “helped” the legal market – what they ensured was that there is going to be a de nitive spike
in retail cost of bud in 2021 due to these res. Croptober is the month where most of the weed you’ll smoke until the
next major harvest comes from.
This year – due to the res, we will see a decline in overall cropped out cannabis, which will most de nitely make
cannabis more expensive next year. Some indoor operations will continue to supply cannabis yearlong – however, the
cost of production increases when you’re growing indoors.
Moreover – seven people ended up dead after the raid just showing that the increased prevalence of prohibition only
creates conditions that make society more dangerous – not less.

5. 10/1/2020 What is the Honorable Thing to Do with 20 Tons of Illegal Weed?
https://cannabis.net/blog/opinion/what-is-the-honorable-thing-to-do-with-20-tons-of-illegal-weed 6/14
Of course – full scale legalization will never completely eradicate the black market, just like there is a black market for
tobacco. The di erence though will be measured in how violent these illegal markets are. Comparing the illegal tobacco
market vs the illegal cannabis market – the latter is far more dangerous mainly due to the economic incentives attached
to cultivation and sale.
Who’s for a Robin Hood Act?
The cops have something like this. It’s called “Asset forfeiture” and is an obscure law that allows the cops to legally seize
property and use it if it comes from criminals. I’m merely suggesting amending it so that the good seized from illegal
cannabis operations can be diverted back to the public.
Hell – donate it all for research, but don’t burn it. Burning cannabis when legal farms are su ering is not only immoral –
it’s not utilizing our resources due to ideological practices.
GOT EXTRA WEED, READ THESE STORIES...
(https://cannabis.net/blog/news/the-great-16-ton-california-weed-
surplus)
HOW MUCH EXTRA WEED DOES CALIFORNIA REALLY HAVE? (https://cannabis.net/blog/news/the-great-16-ton-
california-weed-surplus)
OR..

6. 10/1/2020 What is the Honorable Thing to Do with 20 Tons of Illegal Weed?
https://cannabis.net/blog/opinion/what-is-the-honorable-thing-to-do-with-20-tons-of-illegal-weed 7/14
(https://cannabis.net/blog/how-to/3-things-you-can-make-with-1-gram-
of-weed-other-than-smoking-it)
WHAT CAN YOU DO WITH ONE GRAM OF WEED? (https://cannabis.net/blog/how-to/3-things-you-can-make-with-1-
gram-of-weed-other-than-smoking-it)
What did you think?
Keep reading... click here
(https://cannabis.net/blog)
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7. 10/1/2020 What is the Honorable Thing to Do with 20 Tons of Illegal Weed?
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9. 10/1/2020 What is the Honorable Thing to Do with 20 Tons of Illegal Weed?
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