Which came first – recreational and medical marijuana? it seems to be a chicken or the egg situation in the history of growing marijuana. Medical marijuana has a detailed history and its use is heavily documented throughout many ancient empires including the Chinese, Greeks, and Egyptians using it to treat ailments including cancerous tumors. Despite this colorful history, recreational marijuana has always traveled hand-in-hand with medical marijuana. As some of these societies have experimented with the medical benefits of marijuana, others have used the plant simply for recreational purposes.
Medical Marijuana’s Use
Medical marijuana has served as a gateway for recreational marijuana in the modern United States. The counterculture paranoia of Reefer Madness and The War on Drugs has started to be viewed more favorably. The industriousness of medical marijuana and its ability to help with epilepsy, cancer, and other illnesses has helped push the drug from the category of a hippie handheld to a medicine.
State legalization usually starts with Medical Marijuana
Additionally, as public opinion shifts so does the chance of marijuana legalization. Thirty-six states have legalized medical marijuana while just one-third of that have legalized it recreationally, but this legalization of medical marijuana is one step toward decriminalization and legalization nationwide. Many states actually mandate that a company must sell medicinally first before selling recreationally. This helps facilities transition easily when the state makes the move to legalize recreational use. Additionally, there is now a blueprint for states that make the transition too and helps cultivators who may want to move their operation from medicinal to recreational easier.
Growing Marijuana in different regions
Unlike some recreational marijuana, all medical marijuana has to undergo a series of tests to ensure its high quality. The product is grown completely indoors and is monitored intensively by cultivators to make sure the plant can pass the proper tests to qualify for medical use. Another reason the plant has to be grown indoors is that in many states where marijuana is legal, the proper growing conditions do not exist. Humboldt County in California is one of the few places in the United States where the conditions are favorable for the plant to grow outside. In the topsy-turvy weather patterns of the Northeast and the Midwest, the plant needs to be grown indoors where humidity, light, and climate can be constantly controlled and monitored. Otherwise, the plant would either not survive or be of low quality.
Different strains for different ailments
Just like any other crop, marijuana needs the proper growing environment to flourish and when you’re dealing with very complicated growing processes, it is much easier to do that indoors. For example, medical marijuana sometimes has higher CBD than THC and different strains require different growth cycles. Just as it would be for any other pharmaceutical, the cultivation process from start to finish must be handled with the utmost precision since different plants are used for different ailments and have different requirements. While medicinal growth has been considered the gold standard for cultivators, recreational growers have all but caught up to their counterparts’ quality standards.
Anden is the solution for growing marijuana
Anden offers a complete lineup of grow-optimized dehumidifiers for any size grow, precision controls like humidistats and thermostats to help you maintain complete control through the cultivation process, and other parts to help you keep your products running smoothly and efficiently. Anden is not just large grow rooms, but we have small dehumidifiers that smaller-sized cultivators can use to create high-quality grows. Our A70 unit removes up to 70 pints of moisture per day and is energy-efficient. It can be installed in several different ways including suspended, freestanding, and ducted.
Find an Anden supplier
With Anden, humidity is constantly controlled to help prevent disease and pests, and to help the cultivator harvest high-quality, high-yield crops. Go to Where To Buy to find Anden products in your area today.