$100,000+ Salary, Work From Home, Always Hiring.

“Were you just laid off? Fired? Let go? Or do you hate your job, and hate working for some jerk who makes money off of your labor? Are you living hand-to-mouth, or having a hard time saving for your kids' college funds? Or are you just plain looking for a new career that offers opportunities for creativity, flexibility, and a demand for strong moral principles? Well then we have just the thing for you...”

Does this sound familiar? Well, that's because it is. Every day our email inboxes and unconscious minds are spammed with pyramid schemes promising easy success at no personal cost. They approach our every inner desire; from a desire for creativity, emotion, and “the erotic” (as Audre Lorde put it) in our daily lives, to an appeal to the Weberian “Protestant work ethic”or even Marx's prediction that people will always find happiness through being in control of their lives and livelihood.

Here's the catch. This is actually available. It has been for decades, in the form of mom-and-pop grow shops. That's right, I'm talking about commercial marijuana growing.

I'm not writing to preach about the benefits of marijuana, or to glorify its production. It is illegal and has been so for quite a long time. However, in order to discuss why people do it, I must explain some of the benefits a grower receives.

First off and most importantly, marijuana cultivation, when done on a small scale in private residences, can be both discreet and very profitable. An experienced grower can pull anywhere from $5,000-$50,000 every two months out of a functioning operation, with little risk of being caught. Secondly, plant care at the level needed for indoor horticulture at a competitive level is very demanding and requires an extreme amount of attention and research. Their marketability, profit margins, and professional reputations are dependent on high quality harvests, which require the best possible care on a daily basis. No one can put in that kind of effort, then get that kind of a reward for their efforts, and not feel emotionally attached to their labor. It's just plain not possible.

So what does this mean, from a sociological standpoint? Why do people grow marijuana illegally? Well, each of the attributes I've listed relate both to pyramid scheme advertising headlines and to a separate core principle of sociological thought. The sociologists I have chosen to refer to are Marx, Weber, Durkheim, and Lorde, though I have not yet found a single acclaimed scholar whose ideas do not directly relate to this issue.

Karl Marx's big stick with the modern world was that laborers were and still are getting further separated from their labor. In other words, you might work as a machine operator, but you don't make the airplane. You make a little piece that no one will ever appreciate unless it fails, and then it's your ass on the line. Or you might work as a teacher, but you don't make your study plans. You have a list of objectives, requirements, and often times, even expected subject matter that you're supposed to teach. You don't make a house, you might just install the plumbing, hammer on the roof or plant the shrubs around it all day. You don't get to look the consumer of your product in the eye and say, “I have done you a service this day, and I appreciate you trading me worth for worth; money for my food in exchange for my time, hands, and mind.” Where is the pride in this?

Well, as a marijuana farmer, this is not a problem. The time investment is huge, but that's because you have to learn and perfect every step of production. Every new thing you learn adds money to your paycheck, and every mistake you make costs you greatly. This daily, hands on experience that uses both mind and body creates a strong bond with the finished product and with the production system itself. It's said that a grower who sticks with it more than a couple years will always, always go back, out of sheer passion for the work. Is that something that the Auto industry can claim?

Instead of preaching to you about Weber and the Protestant work ethic, I'd like to share with you a short story that will stick with me for the rest of my life. I'm sure you've heard it, and even played out it's role yourself.

About a month and a half ago, a “mid-level” marijuana smuggling ring into Cheney was broken up by the State Drug Task Force. The 28 year old “leader” of the ring was accused of laundering $380,000 in the last year through Northern Quest Casino. What caught my attention with this case was the comments responding to it. There were the short, stereotypical, to be expected comments, like, “Good, he got what he deserved!” And, “Legalize it, man! It's at worst no worse than alcohol!” But the ones that really caught my eye were from older, law abiding members of the community. They went something like this.

“I've worked hard to provide for my wife and children. I've been a ______ manufacturer for fifteen years now. I'm astonished and horrified that this kid was clearing in a year tax free what I take home in a decade! I've paid my taxes, worked hard, saved paychecks, and followed the law. Where are my tax dollars going? Why do I personally pay for an anti drug effort that only allows children to make a mockery of my values and my life's work?”

If this response doesn't sum up, then allow me: Weber's belief that what America feels makes America strong is hard work, deferred pleasure, and seeing to the welfare of your family before all else. I do know that many, many people have started growing marijuana because of feelings like these. If an adult doesn't believe that marijuana is innately evil or particularly harmful, the temptation to add a few extra hours to your workday for a much greater contribution to your nest egg is powerful indeed. This is why the majority of the marijuana historically consumed in the United States is produced by small time growers who are often middle aged and have families--- true mom-and-pop shops. They blend in with the community; the parents still have regular jobs, the kids go to school and soccer practice, and often don't even know that mommy and daddy are breaking the law in order to save for Harvard. They are the embodiment of the Protestant work ethic.

Durkheim's most referenced work is Suicide, where he examines suicide rates across national boundaries and within different faith communities in order to potentially investigate social reasons for people committing this final act of escape. What he suggests is that there are two types of glue that hold communities together: a physical connection, in terms of person to person contact (which I don't really examine here), and also in terms of familial and social bonding, and an innate sharing of values, ideals, and “norms” that give people definition within the group and some conceptual framework for acting out their lives.

The Drug War is a cause and symptom of a serious social disorder. For the time being we'll ignore it's causes, and focus on the problems it causes in turn. At its most basic level, the Drug War is fighting against what people do in their private lives. In other words, a significant percentage of the population is and will always do drugs; moreover, they will believe it is their right to pursue pleasure or numb pain as they and they alone see fit.

The idea that regulation will reduce rates is fallacious: the more risk involved in an enterprise, the more profitable it becomes. The more profitable it becomes, the more people will want to get their piece of the pie. Both trends have been historically validated... marijuana production and cost varies highly state-to-state, but rates of consumption are actually comparatively stable. That means the government is fighting against basically a completely uncontrollable market variable.The belief in free will and the desire to succeed in this case conflicts with the underlying assertion that the majority has the right to rule.

Similarly, the idea that people have a right to seek pleasure or freedom from pain conflicts fundamentally with current drug policy. Regardless of the cause of the desire to consume a mood and mind altering substance, the fact remains that people will usually act in their own perceived best interest, and both of these behaviors are, in the most basic sense, attempts to improve one's quality of life. The conflict between an individual's desire to “do good” and to help himself or herself obviously and understandably causes great tension on many levels, for both the individuals and their families.

Basically this means that the larger the size of a chunk of the population that rebels against the mainstream based on claimed similar values, the greater the level of stress on both the system and the individual members on either side of the debate. This state of “anomie” is caused by societal normlessness, because both sides have a seemingly equally viable claim to this country's unifying ideals. Durkheim specifically studied this anomic state by measuring suicide, but it was intended to be somewhat applicable to social disorder in general, and is treated as such by scholars. If we are classifying grey market operations as a social disorder, then the individual choice to join the grey market should arguably be understood through similar mechanisms --- A polar cultural understanding of right and wrong on this issue. Simply put, if making money, being happy, caring for your family, and loving your job is “right”, then why is growing pot wrong? And if protecting your children from drug dealers and tolerating discomfort for some greater good (such as saving for the future or giving up your recreation for the sake of your family) is “right”, then why is this supporting this allegedly destructive pasttime “right”? It's not that people have different core values, it's that they disagree on right and wrong.

Finally, the plants themselves are fragrant and aesthetically appealing. Viewing and working with them can be compared as everything from a spiritual journey to a lover's embrace. It's not something you can understand until you've done it, much like caring for a pet or taking a beautiful woman on a date. It is a job as well as a personification of Lorde's concept of “the erotic”... the idea that life's true beauties are an almost visceral knowledge – when we see a child laugh, or hug a parent, or make love to a partner, we know in our gut that something is right and good. It is a powerful knowledge that defies conscious, intellectual examination. And once you grow marijuana for a while, you feel the tingle, too. You have the knowledge. Living, fragrant, sparkling flowers are undeniably and unfathomably beautiful, and bringing this beauty into the world just feels good.

Basically, I could go on and on about this. This is a profession that is caused and propogated by the society we live in, and the more we fight against it, the stronger its appeal becomes, and the better its practicioners learn to hide. Whether it's to numb the pain of a soulless job, or to block out the screaming children or the aching joints; whether it is to practice your freedom, or just to unwind at the end of the day and laugh a little more, it is all spawned from the same core beliefs that drive our culture and our country: freedom, hard work, and the pursuit of happiness.