I was just trying to make the point it is business. Like any business, you get into it to make a living. Supply and demand have made it really good to be a buyer. Not so much a grower. Cali prices are around 1K a unit. Kick in a couple hundred for trimming, and you will soon find most of the color has been washed out this gold rush. Best to be selling picks and shovels to the miners now. I mean ferts, pots and soil to the growers. That is where the real money is at.
I have friends in the business. They make a living, but just barely. No one is getting rich anymore. The legal states are the worst. You have to get a permit for every little thing. Not to mention land prices have spiked because of the green rush. And just when you think you are going to come out ahead, one plant way in the back can hermie and you miss it, and you have a greenhouse full of worthless product. You have worked all day everyday for months, but will be making a fraction of what you expected. The bank is going to get it's payment no matter what. Permits still have to be bought. Land taxes paid. Lights and water. Soil and ferts bought. I have tried my hand at regular farming, and there are much easier ways to go broke. I do not want any part of growing weed for a living. Too much risk with a very uncertain reward at the end.
From a pure labor/cost comparison, it would be much better for most of us to let others grow and we just buy our weed from them. Kind of like we do with all other commodities. But like the backyard gardener who can't abide the thought of a store bought tomato, we feel the same way about weed. So just grow for yourself, and give any extra away to your friends and neighbors. Once you let expectations of earnings get in the way of the enjoyment of growing, it's just another job.
Sorry to the OP for this hijack.