Shady marijuana industry also killing migrant workers
Washington Examiner
Video Embed
As we have noted many times in this space, marijuana is not a harmless drug. It is extremely detrimental to human health, especially to young people. It can cause permanent brain damage and psychosis, and it shows up at alarming rates in the bloodstream of people killed in traffic accidents.
But what is discussed less frequently is the impact of marijuana legalization on the communities where it is actually grown.
CONGRESS SHOULD NOT MAKE COLORADO’S MARIJUANA MISTAKE
All over California, both legal and illegal grows have cropped up since legalization. Indeed, the black market still dominates the marijuana trade even where it is legal. It may sound crazy, but it has proven cost-prohibitive for rural sheriff’s departments and police forces to shut down illegal grows. So one of the first big lies about legalization, that it would bring cannabis into the light, has already been laid bare.
But it gets much worse when you consider how badly marijuana farms exploit migrant workers, with many deaths resulting, as a recent Los Angeles Times story details.
According to the report, at least 35 workers were killed on marijuana farms between 2016 and 2021. Working conditions are extremely hazardous, and the growers are all too eager to cut corners. For example, 20 of those 35 workplace deaths were due to carbon monoxide poisoning in greenhouses, and carbon monoxide detectors are available at big box stores starting at $10.
The Los Angeles Times shares accounts from workers who have had their passports taken away as if they were slave laborers working in Qatar or Xinjiang. They are forced to live in appallingly unsanitary conditions and are frequently deprived of their wages. California’s courts offer no real recourse since the resolution of any wage dispute will take months or years.
These workers are often violently threatened and sometimes exposed to dangerous levels of both legal and illegal pesticides. The main effect of legalization on these workers is that their wages have collapsed — if their employers are even gracious enough to bother to pay them.
There is yet another lesson here about how badly California is governed in spite of its legislators’ pretextual lip service to caring about workers. But this issue goes far beyond that because every state that legalizes marijuana and every business that sells it is implicated by this tragic story.
In short, your marijuana habit is getting people killed, even if it is legal in your state. You are helping fund some of the worst human beings on the planet. You have no business pretending you support social justice or workers’ rights if you are supporting this heinous industry.
It’s one more thing to think about before you next visit your dealer or dispensary.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER