Democratic Convention and Cannabis Harvest

Monday evening. I am watching the Democratic Convention.  

Eva Longoria is a superb host: poised, well spoken, looks great on TV.

Still, it is hard to make this compelling TV. There is no plot. No conflict. And we know how it ends: Joe Biden gets the nomination. 

I am enjoying it, but I cannot believe there is a single undecided voter anywhere in America watching this program. 

Gentleman Farmer

I am tired as I write this, Monday evening. I am a farm worker and had a long day. Lots of the people Democrats may hope would watch the show and be favorably impressed are busy people who had a long hard day of work. They may not sit still for political speeches, especially when the video and audio are badly synced.

I am "retired" but currently I am helping out some people growing cannabis, trying to get an up- close look at how it is done. The early cannabis harvest is happening now in southern Oregon.

I listened to an NPR broadcast while I worked. I heard a news story about an undocumented man who became a Marine and served in Afghanistan. After he got out of the service he got into trouble, arrested for possessing a large quantity of cannabis. He was deported, under the rule that a person here on a green card who commits a serious crime--possessing bulk marijuana--is deported.

Meanwhile, I continued my work, legally harvesting marijuana in bulk, a tiny cog in the State of Oregon's program for growing medical marijuana. There are rules galore, including constraints on the number of permitted plants. It is taxed at every step. It is a money maker for government and fellow taxpayers. 

Republicans, appalled by Trump

Joe Biden's position is to "decriminalize" cannabis and Kamala Harris wants to legalize it. The current federal law treats it as a very dangerous drug with severe penalties. Some states, like Oregon, treat it as legal. A majority of Americans want it legalized. Some 55% of Americans say that state programs of regulated marijuana markets are mostly a success versus 19% who say they are mostly failures. 26% say they don't know. Democrats are more likely than Republicans to call it a success, at 67% vs. 41%. Click.

The broad fields of green that people see along rural roads are growing "hemp," i.e. the variety of cannabis plant bred to have no psychoactive properties. It contains "CBD," used to make a medicine which gives some people pain relief. It can be grown in unlimited quantities.

I am helping to harvest a different variety of the same plant, the variety that has THC, the psychoactive chemical. There is both an early harvest and second, normal harvest of that variety. The THC crop is started in greenhouses in February, then is transplanted to outdoors in May and is then grown to be large bushes, from which buds are harvested in October. 

"Going high means standing firm against hatred."

The early harvest plants are transplanted into outdoor hoop houses that can be covered with an opaque tarp in the late afternoon, beginning in mid June. They get a measured 12 hours of darkness, which tricks the plant into thinking it is autumn and time to go into flower and grow buds. After about eight weeks of artificially long "nights" the plants are ready to harvest. That is what I am helping with.

Like all farm work I have done, the work is tedious and tiring. One reaches into a plant, clips out a branch, inspects the buds on it for mold or other problems, trims off large leaves, then places it into a tub where it can be brought to a drying facility. Repeat. And repeat.

Cannabis is an industry. When done right, and if markets cooperate, it creates a profitable crop for the grower, a profitable use of farm land for rural landowners, and it gives significant business to ancillary businesses doing irrigation, soils and soil amendment, fertilizer, hardware, and equipment. It also provides jobs for American workers. 

I write this having just watched Bernie Sanders, then Michelle Obama's. He spoke in praise of Biden. His speech, not hers, is the most important one of the night. He said that real progressives vote for Biden. He didn't seem reluctant. He looked and sounded like he really meant it.

Fox News is using what he said to frighten viewers. Bernie Sanders likes Joe Biden! Biden is a crazy left wing radical socialist.  Fox viewers will hear that message repeatedly. 

What is not clear is if Sanders supporters on the left will hear and believe it.
           
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Note: When I write about cannabis I get questions sent directly to me about whether I consume the cannabis I see grown. No. I don't like it. I prefer a clear head. I don't use alcohol, either, for the same reason. 

I do like caffeine and thoroughly enjoy coffee.