Ever since Virginia decriminalized Marijuana we have been fielding a lot of questions.  I'm going to answer the most common questions with the information below.  The first thing I hope everyone understands is that both hemp and marijuana are Cannabis plants.  It is accurate to call hemp cannabis as well as marijuana.  They are both the same plant just like two different types of tomatoes are both tomatoes.  We label marijuana any cannabis plant that's predominantly THC and Hemp if it's predominantly CBD/CBG/CBN, etc.  The federal government calls anything marijuana that has over 0.3% THC however.

Now, on to the new law....  Each citizen of Virginia is legally allowed to grow 4 THC Cannabis plants at a time.  The only restrictions to this are that your plants should be labeled with your name and Drivers License number and not be visible from a street.  4 plants may not sound like a lot, but the law states you cannot sell or trade your marijuana for goods or services.  It can only be gifted legally.  The law is meant to allow you to grow your own not to start a business.  Therefore 4 plants can actually be a large amount.  If grown properly a single plant can produce a pound of flowers and more often than not is at least 1/2 pound of flowers.  Add to this the fact that you could grow indoors with some inexpensive equipment and 4 plants can easily be produced every 3 or 4 months.

The next caveat to discuss is transporting marijuana... The limit is 1 oz that can be on your person or in your car, etc.  However, there is no limit to the amount you can posses in your home.  The primary limit here is that you may only posses the flowers.  Creating edibles or concentrates from your marijuana is still illegal oddly enough as well as smoking/consuming it in public.

Now that your up to date on the law you may be thinking about growing your own.  The first roadblock you'll hit is that although it's legal to grow, it's not legal to buy the seeds or plants.  They can only legally be gifted to you, which definitely makes the process much harder and means you're going to need to make some connections in order to get started.  Look into Facebook groups for growers in your areas to make some connections.  

Now that the growing season is over you'll either have time to plan and prepare for next spring or grow indoors with some small investment in a Light, Fan, perhaps a filter and a grow tent.  Complete grow tent kits can be found on Amazon for anywhere between $300 to $600 depending on size of the tent and strength of the light. These typically include exhaust fans and sometimes carbon filters to remove the smell.  If you're new to it all be sure and do your homework.  Knowing the difference between Male plants and Female plants and when to harvest are very critical items to learn. 

If you are new to all this and thinking "I'm not a smoker of any sort, why would I grow marijuana?"   Then I have several answers for you. The medicinal value of marijuana far outweighs the issue of overuse for enjoyment purposes.  THC has proven beneficial for a lot of the same issues as CBD and is obviously stronger in several ways. It's a valuable tool to have in your medicine cabinet that can keep you from reaching for pharmaceutical opioids in times of pain, sleeplessness and anxiety.  Lastly, it's your new right to grow if you live in Virginia and we feel like rights need to be exercised or lost.  Furthermore the more people who learn about and grow this plant the more we remove the stigma surrounding it and are able to use it to its full potential.  It's an incredible plant that has been used as long as humans have been around.

Happy Growing!

Chad and Kimberly Quesenberry - QberryFarms.com