By Jeff Greene

For those of you thinking I am talking about law enforcement. Wrong! As the legalization of marijuana is now happening all over the nation, your friendly neighborhood drug dealer is having to come up with new business plans on how to make money. One way that is being done is by “cutting” your purchase with legal hemp. Now before you complain that your “high” doesn’t seem as good as it used to, the benefits of hemp and for that matter your marijuana as long as its not laced or cut with other chemicals is helping your endocannabinoid system. 

You may be asking yourself, who buys weed at a dealer when there is legal medical marijuana at the local dispensary? There can be many reasons, first, most dispensaries are running short on product, the vertical model that Florida instituted was not intended to be in the best interest of the consumer and it has proven it is not. Second, some strains are either cheaper or better outside the legal process. Lastly, not all people qualify or can afford to go through the medical verification process, albeit relatively easy, it still costs a couple of hundred dollars to get through and that can get onerous on someone living paycheck to paycheck and just wanting to relax when they get home. 

The reason for this article is anecdotal, you never really know what you were getting when you buy street drugs. Most people that do are addicted to the feeling and don’t rationally weigh the risks. However, I personally know dozens of “old stoners” that have been buying their weed from a trusted source for years and have no interest in changing. To those that fall in that category I would suggest going down the legal path, the risk/reward is huge. 

On the other hand, if you really don’t like getting high but you do enjoy the relaxed feeling that cannabinoids provide, give hemp a try. It’s cheaper, it doesn’t get you high and arguable its healthy. 

If you need a source, join the Florida Hemp Council as a general member and we would be happy to point you in the right direction. Visit www.TheFLHC.org.