Regardless of what you think about marijuana, most tax payers are hard-pressed to come up with valid answers as to why, or how, Georgia will be a better place for being the last State in the Union to finally realize the inevitable.
That said, what does this have to do with real estate? Turns out, more than you think. For many, legal weed changes the way they view their living spaces. For home and City planners, legal weed means another layer of standards and regulation. And for Landlords, legal weed means the crazies will come. Then again, when a 2,500 square foot rental home can be turned into a farm yielding between $1M – $1.5M dollars in cannabis revenue, maybe crazy isn’t the operative word.
It wasn’t long ago, potheads couldn’t find a respectable electrician to install a grow room. As a result, two years after Colorado legalized marijuana, there was nearly a doubling in the number of house fires. Turns out putting a virtual sun in the hall closet isn’t as good an idea as it sounds. Today, professionally licensed and trained grow room companies are popping up everywhere across the United States.
Builders are becoming keenly aware of their customers changing cannabis requirements. In Washington DC, homeowners are allowed to grow up to a maximum of 6 plants. Local Condo developers have added the option for a turnkey “Grow Closest”, specifically designed for 6 plants. Not surprisingly, the Closet has become the number one buyer add-on, surpassing both wine coolers and dog washing stations.
Today, the marijuana home grow market is very much like the home brewing market in terms of size and revenue. Fans go to grow stores to learn, share tips, buy supplies and brag about results. For the most part, these folks are hobbyists. But, going forward, the home brewing market will remain the niche it is, while the home growing market will explode into the stratosphere.
How do we know this fact? Over the last 3 years, marijuana use in people over 64 has gone up 250%. That sounds impressive, but it’s really just a matter of math. All those dirty hippies from the 60s are finally becoming an age when visiting the Doctor has become their day. Tens of thousands of Boomers, retiring every day, with a lifetime of aches, pains and God knows what.
“Better Living through Chemistry” was an actual baby boomer slogan. Truth is, the Boomers are the world’s first drug generation. They’re the ones who came up with a pill for everything. And, now they’re old, do you really think they’ll change?
Growing Your Own Medicine
A recent headline read, “100% of Seniors Would Benefit from Using Cannabis”. That seems unlikely. Still, the study from which that headline comes, paid for by High Times Magazine, has a point. Alzheimer’s, anxiety, depression, IBS, Parkinson’s, cancer, joint pain, and appetite issues are now all daily concerns of Boomers.
Healthcare in America is complicated. Costs are high and unnecessarily so for prescription drugs. Today, millions of Boomers are actually sitting in farms that could significantly alter their twilight years. The dust collector that is the kid’s old room; think,”medicine room”. The old “man cave”, can now easily yield enough arthritis medicine to last an entire year.
The hobbyist vibe, found while walking through a grow store, will soon permeate retirement communities across America. An unbelievable number of retired Americans will soon be participating in programs like: To Hydro or Not? Why exhaust systems are important? Or, Pruning—How to Snip to Better Health. Retirees have the need for marijuana, the time to grow it, and the space required to create it. All contributing factors in the oncoming green tsunami.
Georgians, our day will come. For now, just imagine the day you won’t have to seek a drug dealer for your 420 needs. In the future, the day will come when you can simply visit your Nana, and sit in on the drum circle at her retirement community. Because God knows, you know they’re going have drum circles.
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