They call it weed, but just try growing it yourself, and you’ll see how difficult it really is to cultivate cannabis in your home.
The era of homegrown cannabis is almost here, following the passage of a bill to legalize the drug for recreational use.
It will still be illegal for recreational users to grow cannabis, but the bill recently signed by Gov. J.B. Pritzker does allow medicinal cannabis users to grow up to five plants in their home for personal consumption.
And Oak Park entrepreneur Daniel Price, owner of the home-gardening business Kalikale, is ready.
His business, beginning next year when the legalization law takes effect, will offer home growing kits for those with medicinal cannabis cards.
Price has not yet made the new service available on his website, but he expects to have the various options for home growing kits available in the coming weeks.
He said in a telephone interview that Kalikale will offer three options, ranging from $999 to $2,000.
“We’re still going to continue vegetable gardening; that’s been my passion from the start,” said Price, who launched Kalikale last year. “But this could be an opportunity for a company like us to help grow medicine at home or cannabis at home.”
He said that in addition to the new allowance for home growing, the law broadens the number of conditions that make one eligible for a medicinal cannabis card.
Those include conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic pain and migraines. Price said the inclusion of those conditions will mean more medicinal marijuana card holders and potential growers.
Price said his service will be needed because of the complex nature of growing cannabis indoors – and the new law forbids outdoor growing.
“It has to be in a locked room or a locked cabinet and it can’t be in the public,” he said.
He said the various packages are going to fall under two categories: conspicuous and inconspicuous. “Some (growers) will want to do it privately,” he said.
Growers will be able to set up their system with soil or hydroponically.
Price said customers will get the seeds for the grow operation independently of his business and Kalikale will help do the rest.
He noted that the new law does allow for some new “craft growers” licenses, and Kalikale is considering applying.
For now, though, Price is focused on “empowering people to grow their own medicine.”
“Drug laws have been highly inequitable, and when I look out at the landscape for the medical card holders, I’m hearing a lot of people say, ‘I can’t afford medicinal cannabis; I have all these conditions, but I can’t get a card, and I can’t grow my own,'” he said.
He said there are still a lot of misconceptions and myths about cannabis.
A time and exact date have not yet been set, but Price said he plans to hold a workshop at Buzz Café, 905 S. Lombard Ave., in late July or early August to discuss the details of the new law and how medicinal card holders can begin growing their own cannabis.
Price said he hopes the state will eventually begin allowing recreational users to begin growing cannabis.
tim@oakpark.com
