Does Medical Marijuana Cause Paranoia?
Some people are paranoid about medical marijuana! 
Some medical marijuana users report intense, sudden, unjustified fear, verging on paranoia, after smoking strong marijuana, especially Sativa strains. I call this “maranoia,” and I’ve experienced it myself.
In a later article, we'll explore how to recognize and banish maranoia. In today's article I am also detailing another type of marijuana-related paranoia. This type of paranoia occurs in the hydroponics industry itself. Here’s the interesting situation…
We've all heard of Maximum Yield—an influential powerhouse in the hydroponics industry. For many years, Maximum Yield was the only glossy, non-marijuana hydroponics magazine.
Further, Maximum Yield organizes and hosts the only annual series of hydroponics “indoor gardening expo” events in North America. Maximum Yield expos provide unique opportunities for hydroponics companies and growers to network and view hydroponics merchandise.
Maximum Yield expos are as professionally run as any high-end trade show. It's a perfect time for hydroponics businesspeople to catch up on international hydroponics industry news, and for thousands of growers to see a massive hall filled with wicked hydroponics gear and people who love hydroponics. The expos are fun...and good for business!
Maximum Yield's Zero Tolerance for Medical Marijuana
Even though USA Maximum Yield expos are held only in medical marijuana states, Maximum Yield has long had a “zero tolerance” policy regarding medical marijuana. The policy applies to Maximum Yield magazine and its indoor gardening expo events and it means that medical marijuana cannot be mentioned in the magazine or at expos.
I've met more than a few people who have fairly serious illnesses and are growers who wanted to experience the Maximum Yield indoor gardening expo fun, but they ran afoul of the zero tolerance policy. You see, they need to be able to bring their medicine to the indoor gardening expo. They need to use their medicine on premises, just as some diabetics have to take an insulin shot.
But because of the Maximum Yield zero tolerance policy, they cannot attend the events. They are shut out of the indoor gardening expo, even though they are legal medical marijuana people whose use of their medicine is necessary for maintaining their health.
Maximum Yield also requires would-be indoor gardening expo exhibitors to sign a lengthy marijuana "zero tolerance agreement" giving Maximum Yield absolute power to arbitrarily and unilaterally censor and exclude hydroponics companies that want to exhibit at an indoor gardening expo.
As you can see, when Maximum Yield says "zero tolerance," they mean zero tolerance. Whether you're a sick and dying patient who needs to use weed during the expo, or a hydroponics entrepreneur, if Maximum Yield suspects you of being involved with legal medical marijuana, you won't be allowed into their events.
Over the years, and including this year, people have been heartbroken when Maximum Yield contacted exhibitors, sometimes after Maximum Yield has collected its exhibitor booth booking fees, telling them that their hydroponics products violate the zero tolerance policy.
This exclusion dismays banned exhibitors. They lament missing a rare chance to hang out with the hydroponics community. They were looking forward to the Maximum Yield events, and had in some cases already paid their money to attend. Now they are suddenly out in the cold.
Maximum Yield has long had a special zero tolerance policy targeted towards Advanced Nutrients, refusing to allow the company to exhibit at expos or advertise in Maximum Yield magazine since the mid-2000s.
Prior to the ban, when Maximum Yield allowed Advanced Nutrients into its expos, Advanced Nutrients rented a very large space at the expos and they turned entire sections of the expo into an exciting party zone. Advanced Nutrients' expo booths, floor to ceiling graphics, hottie staff, mixed drink freebies (such as an Iguana Juice cocktail), edgy style and incomparable after-parties were absolutely legendary...and even formally applauded as having made the indoor gardening expo a lot better than it would have been.
By banning Advanced Nutrients and other innovative hydroponics companies, Maximum Yield's zero tolerance policy robs Maximum Yield of the excitement and energy that banned companies could have contributed to Maximum Yield expos!
Does Medical Marijuana Zero Tolerance Hurt the Hydroponics Industry?
Another fact is that the zero tolerance policy is seen by many as an example of marijuana-related paranoia. It's one thing to admit that, yes, we're in an edgy, controversial industry. Yes, there was a raid on hydroponics stores 23 years ago. The raid resulted in hydroponics stores banning open discussion of marijuana growing.
But the Maximum Yield zero tolerance policy goes way beyond that common sense in-store protocol, and it implies that our industry has something to hide. It seeks to cloak the "revolutionary" power of what hydroponics manufacturers, retailers and medical marijuana growers create. It makes it look like we're afraid to talk about the fact that we're an ethical, progressive, increasingly-powerful industry producing food, fuel, fiber...and one of the safest and most broadly-beneficial medicines ever discovered.
Is the paranoia justified? Supporters of zero tolerance point to raids against marijuana dispensaries, raids of legit medical growers....even in medical marijuana states like California.
Yeah, those things scare the crap out of me too. Hey Maximum Yield: If you guys have contemporary, actual evidence that there's a clear and present danger with law enforcement planning an imminent attack on our hydroponics industry, please make that evidence public so our community can protect itself. Tell us specifically why you're so worried, because lots of other hydroponics people are not worried at all. Why aren't they worried? They get it that it's 2012, the medical marijuana revolution has happened despite government opposition, and millions of people are eligible to legally buy hydroponics products and use them to grow the finest, most potent medical marijuana that has ever been grown.
People dare to dream how cool it would be if Maximum Yield would embrace and celebrate the fact that medical marijuana cultivation is by far the primary reason for the hydroponics industry's success. After all, it's not like the medical marijuana-hydroponics connection is a secret. It's not like the zero tolerance policy is fooling anyone, or providing protection against an actual imminent threat. Everybody knows that our hydroponics industry offers killer equipment, nutrients and strategies to medical herb growers. Instead of being paranoid about that, more and more people want the industry to celebrate our hard-won medical marijuana cultivation freedom...instead of run away from it.
Battling the Sativa-Paranoia Medical Marijuana Monkey
Of course, I understand how fear terrorizes the mind and weakens one's spirit. It reminds me of my own battles with marijuana-related paranoia. I'd inhale a strong Sativa, and suddenly everything changed. For the worse. I was high, all right. But it wasn't the high I'd wanted. It was like being in some scary I'm-being-chased movie.
Sometimes after a hit of Sativa I'd get paranoid and run in circles trying to devise totally insane hiding places for my seeds, cash, nutrients bottles, other grow supplies. On some occasions, I even considered killing all my plants.
My maranoid mind was convinced that the police were just around the corner, massing to come raid me. It seemed so real to me. I had been raided many years ago, and it haunted me, but thank god the Sativa-paranoia went away when my high was over, leaving me embarrassed by the fear, and spending a lot of time trying to remember where I'd hidden everything!
Medical Marijuana: Out in the Cold
The "last word" in this article belongs to the owner of one of the companies Maximum Yield banned from Maximum Yield indoor gardening expos for "violation of the zero tolerance policy."
This man is a solid, reliable, friendly hydroponics entrepreneur. His products could not get anyone busted. They do not violate contraband or paraphernalia laws. The man's advertising and media image do not in any way mention marijuana. You find ads in Maximum Yield magazine that are more "suggestive" of medical marijuana growing than this guy's advertising.
He's a person who loves the Maximum Yield indoor gardening expo tour. He loves manufacturing his hydroponics products too. And he is proud that our industry and customers have changed state laws to allow state-approved professional medical marijiuana growing from California to Maine.
This hydroponics entrepreneur is profoundly sad that Maximum Yield excludes innovative hydroponics companies, and medical marijuana growers.
"Maximum Yield has a lot of power," he said. "They really can make or break a hydroponics company. If they welcomed medical marijuana growers and all hydroponics companies to their magazine and events, they could unite the hydroponics industry, help our grower customers, protect our retail stores. We'd all grow and prosper more. And no longer would there be some of us banned from the Maximum Yield world, left out in the cold."
Daniel Dharma has a master's degree that combined religious studies, neuropsychology and counseling therapy. He has spent many years studying the use of medical marijuana as a tool for self-improvement, spiritual enhancement, and overall health. Look for his articles that explore the inner terrain of medical marijuana use and gardening.
