CANNABIS, THE CONUNDRUM: Medical Mystery; Environmental Enigma; Neighborhood Nightmare - Tapa blanda

Enjoyed for centuries around the world, Cannabis has always had a unique impact. It should be legal. People everywhere extoll its benefits in easing pain or relaxing their heightened stress. Marijuana is a medical mystery. It is the only known plant, as discussed within this book, to contain cannabinoids that mimic those found in the human body. Yet research indicates that marijuana requires vast amounts of water to maintain a healthy crop. Water consumption is just one of the environmental and social conundrums surrounding legalization. Washington State voters approved I-502 in 2012, an initiative that legalized the commercial production of recreational marijuana in the state. Since then, in Thurston County, twelve interim ordinances regulating marijuana production and processing were enacted before a final ordinance was put in place, at times leading to a confused situation between marijuana business owners, neighboring communities, public officials, and enforcement agencies.This book presents research sourced from peer-reviewed academic papers, reports in the mass media, including newspaper journals and niche media outlets, government publications, interviews, personal experience, surveys, and testimony provided at public hearings. It highlights not only the benefits of legalizing medical marijuana, but also addresses environmental issues and social concerns resulting from the legalization of recreational marijuana cultivation and sales in Washington State. As detailed in this informative book, Washington State residents have been challenged with the unpermitted intrusion of large-scale marijuana operations flattening hillsides, filling wetlands, and destroying forests within rural residential neighborhoods—all with the blessings of the state’s Liquor and Cannabis Board that continues to license facilities in unpermitted land use areas. Therefore, more appropriate zoning, greater communication between government agencies overseeing marijuana licensing and land use, stronger enforcement of regulations, closure of regulatory loopholes that allow for unlawful activity, more thorough and regular site and property inspections, neighborhood consultations, and a detailed environmental impact statement determining water sources and usage for a marijuana operation, are all warranted before a marijuana production or processing license is issued. Such requirements would minimize possible harm to ecosystem functioning, human health and safety, and potential loss in property values, as a result of this rapidly developing—and still inadequately regulated—industry in Washington State. Marijuana is an extraordinary plant; however, regulations inadequate to alleviate the suffering experienced as a result of legalization need immediate revision. Investigations, interviews, and case studies within this well-researched and engaging book explain why. Individuals confronting their own battles for social justice will be inspired.