This will be a bit of a slog so if you're looking for short and sweet this isn't the blog for you.

The US is on the verge of instituting legislation to legalize pot. It has been a long time coming for a botanical that should never have been illegal in the first place. But that's an old and tired argument so I'll leave it for now.

What is pertinent to the coming legislation and eventual farming and marketing of this plant and it's relative, hemp, is that regulations be put in place Before the process begins on a huge scale. Because you know it will be done on a huge scale. Why the regs before? Because otherwise we are going to find ourselves in an even bigger environmental disaster than we find ourselves with the corn/ethanol 'solution' to petroleum enhancement.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-57611891/making-corn-based-ethanol-badly-hurting-environment-ap/

It is absolutely necessary to vet this process before it gets going because cleaning up after rarely works well if at all. It may have to be done state by state rather than on a federal level, but it has to be done.

So when you are advocating for legalization [ as I will be] please also advocate for the regulations to keep the land safe and the product safe also. We are losing so much environmentally that could be safeguarded and utilized in much more responsible ways if we'd simply take the time and effort to let those we have put in charge know that it matters.