Are high energy use and a rotting housing stock in the North more reasons to legalize, regulate, and tax marijuana for anyone? Click here for a larger version of the image.
High energy bills can mean several things: a leaky home with a leaky duct system; a home with a lot of electronic devices always plugged in, which means they are “on” and wasting electricity even though switched “off” and in standby mode; a large home; or a home where someone is growing marijuana.
Take the case of Humbolt County in Northern California. Famously, because of strong leadership on behalf of energy efficiency, the per capita energy use in California has remained relatively flat since the 1970s. More people means more overall energy use, and the state’s population keeps on growing, but still, flat per capita energy use is a pretty fine achievement. Humbolt County went along with the rest of the state—until the mid-1990s when per capita energy use in the county started rising rapidly.
In 1995 California voters passed Proposition 215, which legalized the medical use of marijuana—and a cottage industry was born. See the Figure, where all the dots are connected.
But high energy use is not the only problem for people who grow pot at home. In order to grow pot, you have to create a hot and humid environment, which will rot a home out from the inside.