News 2 OpiNiONs 6DiversiONs 4 spOrts 8

Vol. LIX, Issue 861 www.daily49er.com Wednesday, April 22, 2015

DAILY 49ERCalifornia State University, Long Beach

GRASS MAN STANDING

Ganja grows from the pot to an enterprise

Mother Earth is thirsty

Grow Beach sprouts up

The growing marijuana industry is a reflection of an increase in pot-friendliness.

Earth Week at CSULB educates students on how to be more sustainable.

With the spring semester drawing to a close, Grow Beach looks toward the future.

By Branden RaulstonContributing Writer

By Riva LuContributing Writer

By Elexis deLeon-BryantContributing Writer

Green herb crackles under his light-er as white smoke swirls through a long, glass tube. With one swift inhale, it’ll elevate him into a state of euphoria that has become the norm for his ev-eryday life.

John, who wishes his last name not be revealed due to employment-related reasons, is a senior at California State University, Long Beach and a marijua-na user.

“Marijuana has little to zero known consequences,” John said, noting the start of his daily regimen with his first toke in his first semester of college. “Let everyone experience it and decide for themselves; if it’s not hurting, then it can only help.”

Along with the industries cashing in on the five-limbed leaf, public opinion in favor of the drug’s legalization is grow-ing.

Research by The ArcView Group, a cannabis industry investment and research firm, surveyed both med-ical and recreational marijuana shops. Their results showed that the United States’ market for legal marijuana de-veloped a 74 percent in-crease from $1.5 billion to $2.7 billion in 2014, making it the fastest growing industry in the country.

Nearly 16,000 people were regis-tered for work in the legal industry in Colorado, which is a 143 percent increase in jobs within the indus-

Greenery is in short supply for this year’s Earth Day in on campus.

In honor of Earth Day, the Asso-ciated Students Inc. is hosting Water You Doing Wednesday on campus to focus on the water issues of the Cali-fornia drought. At the event, Facilities Management will be showcasing some potential drought resistant plants that could be planted around campus.

“We are currently converting 90,000 square feet of lawn to sustainable land-scapes and we will be having sample plants to preview,” Energy and Sustain-ability Manager at CSULB Paul Wingco said.

Wingco said that the campus has made efforts to focus on water issues by adding more hydration stations. He

New life waits buried in soil of the Grow Beach community garden in the form of large purple eggplants, bright bell peppers, sweet red straw-berries, six alarm spicy peppers and bushels of green onions.

The rental period for those who rented a plot in the Grow Beach gar-den spring semester has been extend-ed into the summer due to delay in the initial creation of the plots, said Grow Beach Committee Chair Eliz-

abeth Flores, a senior nutrition and dietetics major.

“Over the summer we have a ro-tation of garden managers who will maintain inspection every week,” Flores said. “The garden will be active and open all summer long.”

Grow Beach originally planned to have rotating plot rentals over spring, summer and fall, but since planting did not start until the middle of April Grow Beach decided to combine spring and summer, extending the plot rental until August 21, said gar-den manager and junior environmen-tal science and policy major Cameron Jones.

“I know it has been a lot of work setting up the raised beds and filling them with dirt,” sophomore cellular and molecular biology and German

See POT, page 5

See EARTH, page 2 See SPROUTS, page 3

Michael ares | Daily 49er

About five plot owners have input plants in Grow Beach so far this semester. The garden will be open to the public after the semester for the entire summer season.

Diversions

Source: Pew Research Center, Harvard University economist Jeffrey Miron, ArcView Market Research, the Marijuana Policy Project

Illustration by Danielle Carson | Daily 49er

The increase in the growth of the medical and recreational marijuana shop industry, from $1.5 billion to $2.7 billion in 2014

The projected value of the national legal marijuana

market in five years

The estimated annual sales tax revenue generated by

medical marijuana dispensaries in California

The estimated total cost of marijuana prohibition for state and federal governments every year

Workers from Facilities Management ripped up the dead grass in the traffic circle out front of Brotman Hall Tuesday. Turf removal will continue at the East Turnaround on Wednesday, said Brian McKinnon, the Facilities Management manager of Grounds and Landscaping Services. Removal of the grass near the Atherton entrance of the campus and near Seventh Street will follow suite. McKinnon anticipated that Facilities Management will complete turf removal by the end of the week or early next week and that landscaping drawings are still being finalized.

rhiannon WilliaMs | Daily 49er