The Next Crop

Kerry Herndon

A few years ago, the cover of GrowerTalks asked the question, “Is marijuana your next crop?” At the time, I was thinking that my home state of Florida would be the 54 out of 50 states to approve any use of marijuana for any reason. Once again, history has proven my predictions to be completely wrong. The State on Florida legislature has a bill going forward for the very limited production of a type of marijuana that has low THC and high CDI. This seems to help some children who are prone to very frequent seizures.

Georgia and Alabama have a medical marijuana bill in their respective legislatures this year, also. Already 20 states and the District of Columbia have medical marijuana laws in place. While at the federal level, marijuana is a Schedule One drug like heroin, but if you have glaucoma, the federal government will send you an ample supply to relieve symptoms. I’m not sure what to make of that.

Further in my state, there’s a ballot initiative for a state constitutional amendment that says “medical marijuana can be prescribed by any doctor for any reason.” In the State of Florida, chiropractors have doctor status. Getting on the ballot is quite difficult. If the ballot passes, then that will supersede any legislation. There are many things the state can do to delay or block the amendment from going into effect.

The tide seems to have turned on this issue with the great majority of Americans believing that medical marijuana should be universally allowed. A smaller percentage, but still a clear majority of Americans, believes that marijuana should be legal for recreational use. This is a big social change, probably generational, from just 10 years ago. In Florida, the strongest lobbying group opposed to any kind of marijuana reform legislations is the private prison operators who count on large numbers of people to be incarcerated each year for marijuana possession to fill all the cells that they’re paid to maintain. To say this is an unsympathetic group would be an understatement.

On the other side are the parents of very sick children. No matter how conservative the legislator, being against helping sick children is a bad place to be. That alone is probably why we will have legislation passing in our state this session. It’s a very narrow piece of legislation, but a big change in a very conservative state. Our conservative governor has a tough election against a popular ex-governor who is in support of the ballot initiative. The legislators are in a difficult position, with the public clearly on one side of the issue, and many of their principles are at a minimum, questioned.

I got involved because the legislator who’s the lead sponsor of the bill asked for input on regulation. Clearly, there has to be regulation. My friend in the legislature told me that if I didn’t like the outcome of the bill and I was absent from the process not to complain to her. That pushed me over the edge to get involved.

In places like Colorado and California, all this stuff is produced in warehouses using artificial lights. This may sound crazy because it is crazy. Greenhouses are much more efficient production units. The intense artificial lights require huge amounts of energy and more to cool the buildings. Six times more energy is required to remove heat with air conditioning than creating the heat.

By becoming involved, I hope to have some input into the regulations that are part of the law. I’ll be giving input at the state level for the first time in my life. Going to Tallahassee, our state capital, I saw scores of professional lobbyists. Talking to legislators as a real businessperson with actual employees and some knowledge of the topic, I got a great reception. It was a very positive experience. It was a surprise to me.

Will marijuana be my next big crop? It depends on the law and the regulations that accompany it. I’ll know soon. GP

Kerry Herndon owns and operates Kerry’s Bromeliad Nursery in Homestead, Florida. He can be reached at kherndon@kerrys.com.