Legalization of cannabis would help to better protect the environment,
avoid pollution and defend eco-systems?
This is what emerges from several studies carried out in the United
States on the issue.
The production and marketing of cannabis is an economic activity of significant
size.
Although illegal in most states of the world, the cannabis trade is
estimated to be worth about $150 billion in revenue.. with about 200 million consumers.
It is also an "industry" around which important issues (public health, public safety, revenues, traffic management...) are built.
In recent years, specialists in the field have been wondering about the best way to manage these issues:
To continue to ban cannabis, to fight against its production, or to
legalize production, trade or consumption., in order to have better control
over the industry.
Few States and public authorities in the world have so far embarked on
the second option.
But one thing might perhaps change their minds: in addition to the
possible economic benefits for public authorities. Legalizing cannabis could
have beneficial effects on the environment and the planet.
1. The environmental impact of cannabis
In a previous article, we deciphered the enormous environmental impact
of tobacco.
Between the production of tobacco plants, their drying and processing,
the transportation of the merchandise, the manufacture of cigarettes, filters
and rolling leaves., tobacco is a very polluting and environmentally harmful
industry.
Generally speaking, the cannabis industry poses the same problems as the
tobacco industry:
Cannabis plants have to be grown, which requires inputs, pesticides and
fertilizers.
Cannabis cultivation is very water- and even energy-intensive. In the
end, it is estimated that smoking one cannabis joint is equivalent to emitting
about 900 g of CO2 into the atmosphere. If all the impacts of the production
chain and life cycle are taken into account.
And we are only talking about CO2 here: that is without counting the
other various other pollutions generated by the production of cannabis
throughout the chain.
But then, how could legalizing cannabis help reduce this environmental
impact? And what if legalization would help to redefine more ecological
conditions of production and marketing?
2. Indoor cannabis cultivation:
Pollution, energy waste and environmental impact
It is important to know that a large part of the environmental impact of cannabis is linked to its production conditions.
First of all, indoor (indoor growing, is hotboxing the planet) poses
serious problems in environmental terms. Since cannabis cultivation is illegal
in a majority of countries in the world.
Many producers have launched
indoor production areas in order to avoid being spotted by the aerial or
satellite controls of drug enforcement authorities.. (this is particularly the
case for individual productions, but also for larger scale productions).
The problem is that cannabis is
an equatorial plant, which therefore requires a significant amount of water and
light to grow properly.
Therefore, when growing cannabis indoors, care must be taken to provide
this water and light, including irrigation systems and UV lamps.
It also requires temperature regulators and air purifiers and
dehumidifiers, in order to maintain the plants in good conditions.
In the end, all this consumes a lot of energy. It is thus estimated that
in the United States, the indoor culture of cannabis represents alone 1% of the
total electric consumption of the country.
Growing 4 cannabis plants indoors would result in electricity
consumption equivalent to that of 29 refrigerators.
In California, where production is among the highest in the United
States., it is estimated that a little less than 10% of total household electricity
consumption is related to indoor cannabis cultivation!
The production of 1 kg of cannabis indoors would thus lead to the direct
and indirect emission of more than 4.6 kg of CO2.
This is about the same amount of emissions as the production of 1 kg of
ham for example, or 15 kg of strawberries.
In the end, in the United States the production of cannabis indoors
would be equivalent to the pollution generated by 3 million cars.
Legalizing the production would make it possible to put back a good part
of the cultivation outdoors., and thus to reduce the energy consumption linked
to indoor cultivation.
Of course, some crops would remain indoors (in less favorable climates.,
or for productions that require a stricter control of the cultivation process,
or for questions of productivity). But for part of the demand, outdoor
cultivation could suffice.
3. Legalizing to avoid the destruction of natural areas
The other big problem of cannabis production is that cultivation. Even
outdoors, is extremely polluting because it is wild and takes place in poorly
controlled conditions.
First of all, to escape police controls, growers look for remote lands,
away from urban spaces.
It is estimated that 31,000 hectares are devoted to the wild cultivation
of marijuana in California alone.
And the vast majority of these outdoor-grown plants are located in wild
forested areas, or even in the heart of protected or sensitive areas.
In the United States, according to the latest census, 71 national
forests in 21 states are believed to be home to illegal crops.
This means that farmers must first clear and destroy the forests, and
thus destroy natural areas.
This inevitably affects biodiversity and the local ecosystem.
4. Better control of production conditions
But that's not all: under the pressure of controls, traffickers are
forced to be highly mobile.
They must therefore be capable of very fast yields, so that they can
quickly relocate their production sites without being detected by the police.
The results..? To increase yields, farmers are massively transforming
the ecosystem:
they are building major irrigation systems by diverting rivers, dams
that are likely to disrupt ecosystems.
They also massively use pesticides, fertilizers and herbicides to
facilitate plant growth.
In 2011, for example, in the National Forests of Mendocino, 56 illegal
production sites were dismantled, and 23 tons of waste., 1 ton of fertilizer,
30 kg of pesticides and herbicides were found there, as well as 10 km of
illegal irrigation and 13 dams.
The use of toxic products and pesticides (in much larger quantities than
necessary), inevitably leads to contamination of the ecosystem:
In the Sierra National Forest in California, 70% of birds (especially
owls) are reported to be contaminated by pesticides, but also 76% of fish.
There has also been a drastic
decrease in the population of certain mammals such as fisherfishes., linked to
poisoning by pesticides used in illegal plantations.
The use of artisanal irrigation systems is drying up rivers and local
water reserves since cannabis is one of the most water-intensive crops., (a
plant requires about 23 liters of water per day).
All this has even prompted some US Senators to publish an open letter on
their concerns… about the environmental damage caused by illegal cannabis
plantations.
5. Cannabis is a regulated crop like any other
According to several studies, including an analysis published in the
Columbia Journal of Environmental Law. Legalizing cannabis production would
allow for better control of production practices.
In fact, cannabis would become a crop like any other, subject to
agricultural regulations and to controls on water quality and the use of
chemicals.
This would first reduce the
pressure on ecosystems and biodiversity by controlling production areas.
It would reduce the use of pesticides by implementing reasoned production;
it would reduce the impact of landscape transformations with approved
irrigation systems...
In short, legalization would allow environmental but also health
authorities to have control over production conditions… rather than letting
traffickers manage wild and extremely polluting productions.
6. Cumulative beneficial effects
The reduction of wild pollution, the legalization of cannabis would make
it possible to avoid the effects of transfer of means.
Rather than investing millions each year in programs to combat illegal
production sites, governments could allocate these resources., (financial,
logistical and human) to environmental protection programs.
The financial resources used by forest protection institutions to
dismantle sites could thus be better used elsewhere.
Indeed, when a production site is discovered by the anti-drug
authorities, the plants are either burnt or destroyed using powerful herbicides.
This therefore contributes either to air pollution or to soil and
ecosystem pollution.
In the United States in 2013, nearly 4 million cannabis plants were
eradicated in this way, thanks in particular to the use of powerful
herbicides...
Another beneficial effect to consider is the reduction of
transportation.
A legalization of cannabis could allow local production to develop and
thus avoid that trucks, cars, airplanes… or other boats filled with cannabis
have to cross borders illegally to supply national markets.
Above all, it would avoid the collateral damage associated with
trafficking.
For example, it is known that
South American cartels, in order to transport their merchandise. Hide their
goods in the middle of very toxic products containing volatile organic
compounds.
This allows the smell of cannabis
to be covered by that of chemicals and avoid being spotted during checks with
dogs.
The problem is that these
products are then thrown away and dumped, often in the wild and in areas rich
in biodiversity… such as on the US-Mexico border.
A study conducted by a dozen environmental scientists under the
direction of Oxford University concluded in 2014 that… the legalization of
cannabis would not only allow for a better control of production, eliminate the
harmful effects of wild cultivation.
But also allow for a better allocation of resources in the protection of
the environment.
Indeed, if we consider that each year the fight against cannabis costs
the State more than half a billion Euros in terms of infrastructure and police
operations.
This represents as much money as could be allocated to the protection of
biodiversity for example.
In concrete terms this would make it possible to multiply by 3 the State
budget allocated to water management and biodiversity… which was only 276
million in 2015.
