After legalization: Cannabis, environmental compliance, and agricultural futures

As the largest polity worldwide to legalize cannabis, California has implemented uniquely high environmental and land use standards for cannabis agriculture. To date, however, regulations have suffered from low compliance rates, especially among smaller, “legacy” farms that existed prior to legalization. Meanwhile, both licensed and unlicensed farms are increasing in size, thus increasing environmental pressures. Is there a way to achieve environmental objectives, farmer compliance, and an equitable transition away from illegal markets? In the largest US survey of cannabis farmers to date, we found farmers are open to strong environmental protections yet face significant barriers in meeting regulatory requirements. We present this opinion article to suggest several strategies to ameliorate compliance barriers by reducing associated learning, financial, and psychological costs. Taken together, these strategies present an unprecedented opportunity to model a new kind of agriculture centered on small-farm production and environmental stewardship—a model that indicates new directions for agriculture beyond cannabis.