Growing pot is now legal in the state of Arizona, but that doesn't mean it's not a challenge to start that little victory garden. Many potential rookie growers don't know the best schedule for planting, the best soil to use or even where to get seeds.
If you want in-person instruction rather than watching a YouTube video and hoping for the best, the local cultivation experts at Growershouse have expanded their retail outlet near downtown Tucson and have begun offering classes on growing weed.
The facility rolled out its initial offering on April 17 with "Growing Legally 101," featuring Jimmy Graham and Bruce Laird from Seed2Sail. Graham and Laird have 15 years growing experience and offer a wide range of services, from planning home grows to acting as "cannascapers," tending crops for snowbirds going home for the summer.
Laird is a combat veteran who served multiple tours in Afghanistan and has used cannabis to help treat PTSD, which has yet to be recognized as a qualifying condition in the state of Arizona.
"Cannabis helped me during a suicidal state in my life," Laird said. "I dropped all the medications given me by the VA and with God and my faith, cannabis has been my medicine."
Graham has been growing pot for a long time and has learned a lot from the staff at Growershouse. "When I first started, I had to learn how to grow 'tomatoes,'" he said, using a common euphemism among growers (Tomatoes thrive under similar circumstances as cannabis.) "There was no internet back then so you had to order books from High Times and hope they actually make it to your house."
While legal home cultivation is still in its infancy—many of the final rules will come down from the Arizona Department of Health Services once they are finally written—Graham and Laird hope it is the beginning of an explosion that will bring access to everyone who wants to legally consume cannabis and also for the development of new strains of weed.
"A year from now, my hope is we'll all be growing and sharing our genetics," Graham said. "Now that the taboo is lifted, it's time to blow the lid off."
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