Pubdate: Tue, 14 Jul 2015 Source: Sacramento Bee (CA) Copyright: 2015 The Sacramento Bee Contact: http://mapinc.org/url/0n4cG7L1 Website: http://www.sacbee.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/376 Author: Ellen Komp Referenced: http://www.mapinc.org/drugnews/v15/n362/a01.html PERSPECTIVE ON WATER AND WEED Re "It's past time to regulate medical marijuana" (Editorials, July 3): We at Cal NORML recognize that there are serious localized problems surrounding marijuana growing and its water use, and have been working again this year for the regulation of commercial-sized cannabis farms at a state level. However, statewide, the amount of water being used for marijuana is a drop in a bucket compared to the 35 million to 45 million acre-feet used for agriculture in California. We calculate that cannabis, licit and illicit, uses only 12,000 acre-feet of water yearly, which is in line with the Emerald Growers Association's estimate. Researcher Keith Humphreys of Stanford notes that, while the USDA data show that 936,000 acres are devoted to growing almonds, the marijuana consumption of the entire U.S. population could be cultivated using only 1 percent of that acreage. Let's be sure that we are looking at all possible solutions to the very real issues we face, instead of scapegoating a familiar, headline-grabbing one. Ellen Komp, Sacramento - --- MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom