The Myth of the Pot Desert

Entrepreneur, we have read your article called "California's 'Pot Desert' Problem", and it made our heads spin.

You guys are not the first to comment on the dreaded "Pot Desert" concept (we see you, Sacramento Bee). But we are going to pile on you because you should know better. And because we are honor-bound to call PROPAGANDA when we see it - that is, scaring people with hinky statements.

First, the term "pot desert" is a culturally insensitive riff on "Food Deserts", which are a serious problem with minority and low-income communities. Serious as in racist and life-threatening. We realize you didn't make it up but that's not an excuse to keep using it.

Second: there is no such thing as a pot desert anywhere in America.

How do we know this?

Because the entire legal cannabis industry is estimated at about $22 Billion in 2020. And the California market is the largest in the US by some order of magnitude, more or less... predictions abound as the numbers are tallied.

But the 2016 black market cannabis industry was estimated by your pals at Inc. Magazine at $46.4 Billion. Again, there are estimates all over the inter webs.

And speaking of estimates, we believe that anyone in America is 2 phone calls away from buying cannabis. That is, anyone in America can 'call a guy' when they want to score some, and if that guy can't hook you up, he knows the guy who can. Two calls, max.

We get the gist of the article, Entrepreneur - that the State of California is not fulfilling its promise to the voters to make medicinal and recreational cannabis available. The slowness in licensing are widely reported problems at both the State and City level (hello Los Angeles?). These are problems we don't deserve.

But there's no pot desert in America. Stop using that phrase. It stinks.

Image credit: Entrepreneur, who credits Cultura Exclusive | Ben Pipe Photography | Getty Images