New member needs advice on journey!

Hello all!

I was born in a state that still to this day actively arrests and charges citizens for even the smallest amounts of personal possession. After being arrested twice for having less than a gram of marijuana on my person I realized maybe this was not the state for me. So when a friend asked if I would like to move to Honolulu HI right after grad high school it was an easy decision. 18 at the time I was blown away, finally a place where the people around me didn’t treat marijuana like it was crack cocaine or look at me like a drug addict for smoking a joint or two after work. I was making almost no money working a restaurant but was loving every moment of it. After a few months a friend brought me to his grow operation he had out in the sticks. An outdoor crop of 12 plants way off of the beaten path. This would be a life changing experience for me, until now the only thing I knew about marijuana was what strains I preferred to smoke, now maybe just maybe I would never have to spend another dime on this amazing plant. He gave me some pointers and a rundown of everything he was doing at the time. I later learned this was far from the correct way to be growing outdoors. So 19yr old me is thinking ok I need to start growing for the simple fact I didn’t want to continue spending a portion of my income every week. The thought that I could someday make a living from this was still far from my mind. I lived in the middle of the city so setting up a guerrilla hut in the rainforest like I was shown was not exactly an option. I dragged my feet for about another year before the lack of income started to wear me down. So after being there 3 years I decided it was time to move back home, maybe find a career I was genuinely interest in and could make a living with. I come from a very conservative family from a small town that is never short on ignorance. Still being very young and impressionable, I had the feeling that I should be going in the direction my parents and those around me wanted to go, which was far from the marijuana industry. I consider myself a fairly intelligent person, new jobs and skills I can pick up pretty fast but if I don’t have a real drive or passion for something, forget about it. Why spend a large portion of your life doing something you don’t truly love? A lot of my family and people I looked up to lived the other way, they made good money but did they enjoy what they did? Hell no. So after two years of electrical school, I knew that wasn’t for me. Maybe go work for my father and follow in his footsteps?……think again. Now 23 years old working construction back in NE hopelessly trying to find something I could make a living at and that I was interested in. At this point in my life I had about 3 things that met that criteria-computers, mary jane and BJJ which only one I saw could be a potential career. So I took what money I had saved and took off to Key west FL to start school for computer science. I learned more about myself and what I wanted to do and what I was capable of in those 4 years than I did my previous 23. One of the most important things, the internet is capable of much more than I ever knew and prob will ever know. Other than 1 or 2 plants indoors at a time, my growing skills were not improving at the rate I would like. Honestly 90% of the bud was shipped from another state and then marked way up because they had you trapped out there. Once I saw Massachusetts was legalizing recreational I saw my opportunity, I moved back home with plans to start growing asap. Other than family I know zero established growers or anything of the sort after being gone for so long. Now there are talks that they want to push the date back for the bill or change it outright. I can’t spend anymore of my life dragging my feet waiting. I strongly believe this is the best time in American history to be producing marijuana , similar to when prohibition ended just at a slower rate. Do you all recommend finding a farm maybe out west to trade labor for knowledge? I did a little research on Wwoof and sites like that, but I figure you guys are the right ones to ask, a lot of you are light years ahead of me and honestly where I want to be! I’m aware when it comes to these things it’s all about trust, which has to be earned, as it should be. Any advice is welcome! I know this was long and drawn out, if you made it to the end thank you! Maybe someone else out there was on a similar path

you are no different from the vast majority of members here on RIU

expecting, no Demanding that weed be your savior is dumb

there is life without weed ..?

see it as weed, is about you be not the 'end of all' is best

I have made my living outta weed for over 40 years

from day one with no support, is you have to make that first step

proper college educated with hort degree and 5 years experience

is the minimum I require as do most

Flakes, those who seek and expect (even demand) acceptance

is bull Don't be a Flake

other than hort skills the next most popular subject is electrical engineering

imo Hawaii is great, return start a grow sell lights on the side

good luck

Horticultural or botony?

vostok said:

you are no different from the vast majority of members here on RIU

expecting, no Demanding that weed be your savior is dumb

there is life without weed ..?

see it as weed, is about you be not the 'end of all' is best

I have made my living outta weed for over 40 years

from day one with no support, is you have to make that first step

proper college educated with hort degree and 5 years experience

is the minimum I require as do most

Flakes, those who seek and expect (even demand) acceptance

is bull Don't be a Flake

other than hort skills the next most popular subject is electrical engineering

imo Hawaii is great, return start a grow sell lights on the side

good luck

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Thank you for the honesty, I agree demanding it be my only option would be foolish. I have other outlets just nothing I get any sort of fulfillment from. I do like the Hawaii idea! So what your saying is I should plan on going back to school for hord if I plan on being serious?

The new AG plans on throwing a monkey wrench into legal pot. Hawaii is full of homeless dreamers and it's very expensive to live there. The emerald triangle is full of trim- immigrants from all over and if you don't know someone it's easy to get taken advantage of by unscrupulous growers.

backtracker said:

The new AG plans on throwing a monkey wrench into legal pot. Hawaii is full of homeless dreamers and it's very expensive to live there. The emerald triangle is full of trim- immigrants from all over and if you don't know someone it's easy to get taken advantage of by unscrupulous growers.

Click to expand...

Yes Hawaii is a homeless mans dream, It was a huge prob when I was there. I will keep that in mind, thank you very much!

"Work" is called work for a reason. If you can find work that you truly enjoy and are fulfilled by it, you are fortunate. For the vast majority, work is a means for providing money to live life, and pursue other things that bring enjoyment (aka "fun").

If you can get a degree in electrical engineering, you will almost certainly have plenty of well paying work, that will provide plenty of income to pursue fun.

brewbeer said:

"Work" is called work for a reason. If you can find work that you truly enjoy and are fulfilled by it, you are fortunate. For the vast majority, work is a means for providing money to live life, and pursue other things that bring enjoyment (aka "fun").

If you can get a degree in electrical engineering, you will almost certainly have plenty of well paying work, that will provide plenty of income to pursue fun.

Click to expand...

Unfortunately I do consider myself part of the vast majority at this point of my life but thats not where I strive to be. Being from mass may I ask you a couple questions? I am currently living central ma

Of course, ask away.

Thank you, so I literally decided to moved back here because of the of the recent passing of question 4 but I have heard recently they are trying to repeal it or change somehow, have you heard anything about it this?

aotpiv said:

Thank you for the honesty, I agree demanding it be my only option would be foolish. I have other outlets just nothing I get any sort of fulfillment from. I do like the Hawaii idea! So what your saying is I should plan on going back to school for hord if I plan on being serious?

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People have to eat!

I've never seen any ugly girls come out hort collage

never any fat butt dudes either

they do brain wash you as in any school

it can lead to many other things later

my buddy who did hort now runs the flashest 'wine bar' in the EU..lol

I'd gladly sell my body parts for a chair in the HI hort college ...DRooooL!

good luck

Yes, the state lawmakers have implemented a delay in recreational retail sales, which are still more than a year away. State lawmakers are also looking at tightening restrictions on homegrowing by reducing plant counts and the amount of finished flower you could keep on-hand. They are also looking at raising the taxes on retail sales. Nothing about licensing retail establishments has been decided yet, I'm not sure the agency that would regulate retail sales has even been formed yet. IMO, recreational might be out of the bag but it's hold is still tenuous and it will take diligence from us all to hold on to as much of it as possible.

brewbeer said:

Yes, the state lawmakers have implemented a delay in recreational retail sales, which are still more than a year away. State lawmakers are also looking at tightening restrictions on homegrowing by reducing plant counts and the amount of finished flower you could keep on-hand. They are also looking at raising the taxes on retail sales. Nothing about licensing retail establishments has been decided yet, I'm not sure the agency that would regulate retail sales has even been formed yet. IMO, recreational might be out of the bag but it's hold is still tenuous and it will take diligence from us all to hold on to as much of it as possible.

Click to expand...

Oh great, I believe I read the gov considers every plant to produce 2lbs which will totally fucked us over. Ill keep my fingers crossed I guess. Thank you for the info brother!

I live just one state further south of you and my grow is totally illegal af. I grow pot for my own use; I never sell it nor do I think I'll ever make a living from it. Not as easy as you think to support yourself growing indoors; it's actually kinda hard just to keep up with your own habit. I gotta ration it out or the ol lady will smoke up all our stash in short order.
Anyway the reason I say this is because you seem like a real smart dude with a bright future. I have little confidence in lawmakers because they actually don't care about legalization; they are doing this to make up for shrinking tax revenues. I have doubts that legal growing is going to be the green boom everyone thinks it will. Don't get me wrong there's a shit-ton of money to be made in this industry it's just that the powers that be will regulate it so little guys won't be able to compete. Big weed has the total resources to put everyone who doesnt have a huge automated greenhouse and distribution network out of business.
There's money to be made for those who can find a niche but that does not necessarily mean selling weed directly to consumers. There's going to be more demand for people who can design & make grow lighting, electrical fixtures, or produce quality organic soil. Keep in mind that only a few lucky fuckers ever got rich during the gold rush but some of the outfitters that sold everyone shovels and picks are still in business....