Warren on Environmental Impact of Marijuana Cultivation

WIDESPREAD COMMERCIAL CULTIVATION OF MARIJUANA will likely bring with it a few practical problems.  For security reasons, it's a crop that's pretty much got to be raised indoors, at least at this point in history.  But it's one of the most energy-intensive indoor plants to grow.  And many of the new licensed production facilities will be going into states where the harsh winter climate isn't exactly conducive to cannabis plants.

That potentially means a lot of electricity, and a lot of carbon, according to my colleague Gina Warren (Texas A&M Law).  She's just posted a new paper on SSRN, Regulating Pot to Save the Polar Bear: Energy and Climate Impacts of the Marijuana Industry.  Here's the abstract:

It goes by many names -- cannabis, marijuana, pot, chronic, grass, reefer, weed, Mary Jane. Whatever the name, the trend is clear: the shwag is legal but the herb ain’t green. Nearly half of all U.S. states have enacted -- or have pending -- legislation to legalize, decriminalize, or in some way permit the use and cultivation of marijuana. As a result, marijuana has become a significant topic of conversation in the U.S. -- especially in the areas of social policy and criminal law. One conversation yet to reach fruition, however, is the industry’s projected impacts on energy demand and the climate. As the industry grows, so will its negative externalities. Indoor cannabis cultivation is the most energy-intensive industry in the U.S., requiring electricity to power lamps, to maintain consistent temperature and humidity levels, and to power fans for ventilation, among other things. This energy consumption, unless otherwise mitigated, results in significant greenhouse gas emissions. This article explores the opportunities that legalization brings in addressing the negative impacts on energy usage and climate change. It concludes that simply incorporating the marijuana industry into the existing energy regulatory framework will do little to address its negative impacts. It recommends that state and local policymakers take advantage of the unique opportunity to require indoor cultivators to utilize carbon-free electricity as a condition of licensing.