Pubdate: Wed, 08 Jul 2015 Source: Plain Dealer, The (Cleveland, OH) Copyright: 2015 The Plain Dealer Contact: http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/letter-to-editor/ Website: http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/342 Note: priority given to local letter writers Author: John Caniglia LOSING THE BUZZ: PUSH TO LEGALIZE POT COULD SLICE INTO SOUTHEAST OHIO'S CASH CROP ALBANY, OHIO - The farmer has grown marijuana for years near this small town in Southeast Ohio, nurturing and hiding his plots from police and poachers. His plants and hundreds of thousands of others harvested in the fields of Appalachia have fueled an underground economy that authorities say has infused cash into Ohio's poorest counties since the 1960s. That soon could change. The region that grows some of the state's best pot has been all but overlooked in a plan to legalize marijuana for recreational and medicinal use in Ohio. The measure appears headed for the November ballot. If approved, its impact could devastate illegal growers. In fact, experts say legalizing marijuana could slice away as much as 70 percent of the underground market. "So much has been taken away from Appalachia already," the farmer said. "The strip miners came in and destroyed our farms. Marijuana has always been here. And now, this will be another thing taken away." He laughed at the irony of the proposed plan to legalize the plant. For years, state agents in helicopters circled Southeast Ohio several times each summer and fall, looking to uproot marijuana plants and charge growers. If the plan were to pass, the state would reap millions in taxes from legal plants. "That's pretty damned two-faced, isn't it?" he said. It is impossible to determine the exact economic impact that marijuana brings Southeast Ohio. But consider that authorities have seized more than 119,000 plants in the region since 2008, according to state records. Overall, agents pulled more than 326,200 plants from across the state. Law enforcement authorities estimate that each plant is valued at $1,000 when it matures. That would mean those plants, had they not been seized, would have brought in $119 million to Southeast Ohio. Authorities suspect that for every plant that is uprooted, 10 more exist that law enforcement will never find. In Ohio, fully mature plants can yield several pounds of pot. The cost of a pound varies across the state, with some going for as low as $800 to $1,200. Marijuana grown in Southeast Ohio often fetches much more, closer to $2,500 a pound. The reason: Years of manipulation and experimentation have boosted the amount of tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC, a key ingredient that causes the high. Growers also have learned to make the plant more resistant to mold, which strikes the plant and can seriously harm it because of the humidity of the region. But any profits from pot are difficult to see in Southeast Ohio, as poverty has blanketed the region for decades. Seven of the state's 10 poorest counties - based on median household income - are here, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Take Athens County, for example. The county, home to Ohio University, has the lowest median household income in the state at $33,823. The state's median household income is $48,308. For comparison, Cuyahoga County is at $43,804. Meigs County, the epicenter of marijuana in Ohio, has the third lowest median household income at $35,469. It also has the second in the highest unemployment rate in the state at 7.4 percent for the month of May. Monroe County had the highest at 9.4 percent. The state unemployment rate was 4.9 percent; Cuyahoga County's was 6.3 percent for the month. "We don't have good statistics because of the illegal nature, but marijuana has been the best cash crop in some counties," said Richard Vedder, a professor emeritus of economics at Ohio University. "In some parts of Ohio, marijuana has played a moderately significant role in the economy . . . . You don't need to sell marijuana if you are making $70,000 a year." Rick Matthews lectured for years at Ohio University as an assistant professor of criminal justice and sociology. He echoed Vedder's remarks. "There is an underground economy from marijuana," said Matthews, now a professor at Carthage College in Kenosha, Wis. "In disadvantaged areas, the underground economy can prop up the formal economy. It is definitely not the solution. But it can help." Uprooting the market ResponsibleOhio is pushing a plan that would allow residents 21 or older to buy marijuana through a system of stores that are taxed and regulated by the state, according to published reports. The plan calls for 10 grow sites across the state, including those in Lorain and Summit counties. None of the sites is in Southeast Ohio. The plan also allows for residents 21 or older to possess four plants and 8 ounces of homegrown marijuana. A state commission would regulate the growth and sales of marijuana under the plan. Legislators in Columbus and law enforcement oppose it. But whether it is ResponsibleOhio's measure or another proposal years in the near future, experts say legalized marijuana would pummel the underground market because of the quality of the product. It would have better ingredients, better growing conditions and stricter quality control, they say. "The legal sellers do a much better job than the illicit grower," said Gary Potter, a professor of criminal justice at Eastern Kentucky University. "The only reason someone sells marijuana is for profit. But once the legal market comes in, the profit margin (for the illegal grower) will drop. The legal market produces better, higher quality stuff." He estimated that the illegal market would decline 60 to 70 percent once the plant is legalized. A farmer scoffs The farmer, who lives near Albany and declined to give his name, said marijuana took off in Southeast Ohio in the late 1960s and sped up in the 1970s. He said a bond formed between local farmers and "the long-hairs," who grew the plant in farmers' fields. Soon, farmers realized that growing the plant could help pay off bills, he said. "That's what marijuana is: It's cash," he said. "All of the local merchants around here did really well in the 1970s. People were buying things locally with money they made from growing." By then, marijuana became a key part of Southeast Ohio's culture. The Athens News, an alternative newspaper, began printing columns called "Dope-A-Scope" and "The Dope Wizard," which tracked the cost and quality of marijuana and other drugs. "The local crop is better than ever," the paper reported in the late summer of 1978. It also promised to pay $10 for the best picture of the year's crop. The farmer, in his 60s, was part of that culture. "Of course I did; every man my age around here did," he said. "I saw friends come back from Vietnam in body bags. Who are you to tell me what I can grow?" The farmer and another marijuana grower who lives near Guysville, also in Athens County, are enraged that the plan would give a group of investors a monopoly over the commercial production of marijuana, leaving Southeast little. The plan, however, would give Athens County a marijuana-testing site, one of five that would certify the potency of the plant across the state. Legislators in Columbus have placed an issue on the fall ballot that would prevent monopolies in the Ohio constitution, a move that could scrap the marijuana legislation. But other plans have surfaced. The group, Ohioans to End Prohibition, is pushing an amendment to the constitution that it hopes to bring to voters in November 2016. It would allow growers to cultivate as much as 25 acres of marijuana in a secured location. All they would need is a state license. That way, the plan would embrace smaller growers and "bring much of the black market into the light," said Jacob Wagner, the group's vice president. ResponsibleOhio claims that marijuana prohibition in the state must end, claiming that marijuana that is sold across the state is unregulated, allowing street dealers to peddle anything to anyone, including children. Would the underground market continue? While growers and law enforcement officials agree that ResponsibleOhio's plan could slice deep into the underground market, they say they believe some growers would continue to grow their own and sell it. But would it be widespread? Consider what has happened to the illicit markets for alcohol and lotteries. Each has nosedived since legalization, though some moonshiners and numbers games stagger on. In Colorado, where voters approved a 2012 amendment legalizing marijuana, the underground market continues. The extent of that market has been debated in newspapers and television newscasts. In towns like Albany and Guysville in Athens County, there is little debate about what the plant has done for the region. Cash from the plant added to a community where many residents work $8- to $10-an-hour jobs. Vern Castle, a longtime sheriff's deputy and former sheriff in Athens County, saw it firsthand. He spent summers chasing growers, uprooting their plants and listening to the howls of residents' dissatisfaction. And he realized the plant's influence on the economy. "Absolutely," Castle said. "As much as has been produced here in the past 30 years, it has to have had an effect." - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom