Marijuana Growers Cultivating More Potent Pot, Smooth and Aromatic, the Kind Expected by Ever-More Discriminating Buyers

You know, you'd think the editors at the Los Angeles Times like to bogart some fat ones, or something.

See, "'Master growers' cultivating a higher grade of marijuana":

Behind the bolted steel doors of an old brick warehouse, Big Wes meets a nutrient company scientist to see if he can increase his crop yield. Rows of hydroponic marijuana plants soak up solution flowing through plastic troughs and light blazing from high-pressure sodium lamps.

Big Wes has spent more than half his life calibrating his system of growing high-grade marijuana to its utmost efficiency. At 50 years old, he harvests a crop of dozens of plants every week from five rented warehouses scattered along the rutted streets and alleys around the docks of Oakland.

His problem is that OG Kush, the ultra-popular strain he specializes in, produces notoriously low yields of bud per plant. For this reason the scientist has come with a nutrient solution made from deep-sea algae, which he promises will boost the output. Big Wes — who asked that his real name or certain identifying traits not be revealed because his career could land him in federal prison — is going to test it against his usual concoction, and try 15 different combinations of the two.

Big Wes is new breed of cultivator, a "master grower" who produces marijuana that is potent and mold-free, tastes smooth and has a pleasing aroma — the kind of product now expected by ever-more discriminating consumers who frequent medical cannabis dispensaries.

He and others like him have revolutionized weed in recent years, growing sophisticated new varietals with scientific precision and assembly-line efficiency. Their expanding role in the burgeoning industry is shifting cultivation from clandestine rural plots to highly controlled indoor grows in urban centers.

"It's kind of becoming the big leagues now," said Kyle Kushman, a writer for High Times magazine and a grower who teaches organic and "veganic" cultivation classes. "Just like any other industry, as it gets older, the talent gets better."

No mention of who are those patrons visiting the "dispensaries." I'll bet they look more like Wiz Khalifa than some old run-down hospital patients.

This whole "medical marijuana" thing is a f-king scam. Let's just be out with it: The legalization movement is for recreational drug users, and the culture is moving towards legalization. Seriously. The Times' story is on the front page, with a full-color photograph of blooming, booming high-grade buds. So quit with the bulls-t about medical users, blah, blah. Regular folks just want to get stoned, so proponents should stop lying about it.

PREVIOUSLY: "Pot Backers' Ballot Effort in Disarray in California."

BONUS: California voters defeated Prop. 19 in 2010, and polls showed just under half of all voters opposing the measure. But nationwide, there's been a trend toward increasing acceptance of legalization. See Gallup from last October: "Record-High 50% of Americans Favor Legalizing Marijuana Use."

More later...