How does his marijuana garden grow? Carefully and quietly, Ann Arbor caregiver says
Jude grew up in a rough neighborhood on Detroit’s east side and left home when he was 15.
Life hasn’t been easy.
He’s lost five of his close friends in drug-related deaths over the years — each to either an overdose or a violent end stemming from the use of heroin or methamphetamine. He’s dabbled in an array of drugs himself, he admits, and dealt drugs like marijuana on Detroit street corners as a teen. He came out of it with a terrible driving record but no misdemeanor drug or felony convictions.
Jude explains his growing process in the basement of his Ann Arbor home.
Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com
Now 30, the Ann Arbor resident is a caregiver — a person who grows and supplies medical marijuana to patients who qualify under the Michigan Medical Marihuana Act. It’s unclear how many caregivers are growing statewide; state officials say they’ll provide a figure when an accurate number is available. The state had registered nearly 50,000 patients as of Dec. 29.
In April 2009, it became legal to use and grow marijuana for patients with conditions like cancer, chronic pain, HIV or glaucoma.
With that change, Jude’s background in various illegal drug ventures suddenly had a legal purpose. But like other caregivers, Jude would only agree to be interviewed if his full name wasn’t used. Caregivers — citing legal and employment concerns — say state law may have legitimized the drug in part, but not in the minds of most people.
Jude said he learned how to grow marijuana when he was 20, as an apprentice of sorts in black market grow houses. He also has, at various times, been a theater or business student in college — endeavors that left him without a degree and $20,000 in debt.
"I ran out of money," he said of his choice to drop out of school.
At one point, Jude was a wedding DJ. Now he holds a professional day job and runs his own business — one that has nothing to do with drugs.
But he keeps a foot in his old life, growing marijuana in Ann Arbor and selling the product to those who are medically qualified.
Inside one caregiver’s world
Jude, like other caregivers interviewed by AnnArbor.com, keeps the fact that he grows and distributes marijuana to himself. He only lets his landlord, a close circle of friends and patients know what’s really going on in the basement of his rental home. State law may have legitimized what he’s doing, but medical marijuana is still illegal in the eyes of the federal government.
Jude fears being exposed would make him a target for those who illegally deal marijuana. And there’s a stigma associated with the drug that he fears will hurt him professionally.
Jude is exclusively a grower and is not a medical marijuana patient himself, as some caregivers are.
Jude, who talks like a botanist, learned most of the technical skills involved in growing marijuana indoors from reading books and papers on the subject — in addition to his work in the illegal grow operations of his past.
Jude takes meticulous notes about his plants and has done extensive research on growing techniques.
Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com
Plywood boards form a makeshift room in the basement of his small rental home. There, his marijuana operation is padlocked shut. The paperwork required of caregivers from the Michigan Department of Community Health, which runs the state’s medical marijuana program, is affixed to the door.
His landlord supports what he is doing, he said.
“It’s really been just like any other part of my life,” he said.
A lighting system worth about $2,000 is switched on at 11 p.m. and runs for 12 hours overnight, when the electricity rates are lower than they are during the day. The plants are in darkness for the other 12 hours. On a recent night, three 1,000-watt light bulbs illuminated 24 marijuana plants in various stages of growth.
Inside the grow room, silver reflective material lined the walls to capture light — Jude casually uses the term lumens, a measurement of light streaming out of high-pressure sodium bulbs. He said he consulted an electrician when he set up the lighting system, which has to be vented to keep it and the plants from getting too hot. Fans and air conditioning control the temperature, 72 to 78 degrees, and humidity, 35 percent to 45 percent, inside the room.
RELATED CONTENT
Here's a round-up of recent stories on how local municipalities are dealing with the issue of medical marijuana dispensaries. These ordinances do not apply to home growers like Jude.
- Ypsilanti City Council considering cap on medical marijuana facilities, outlines licensing process
- Dexter council expected to set public hearing on medical marijuana dispensaries
- Protesters change tune, applaud Ann Arbor City Council for revisions to medical marijuana ordinance
- Chelsea City Council votes to ban medical marijuana dispensaries
- Fired up: Legality of medical marijuana dispensaries an issue of debate in Michigan
Jude’s growing system is homemade. A Rubbermaid container acts as a reservoir, and a submerged pump circulates water constantly through the soil-free system of PVC pipes propped up about two feet off the ground by a base made of two-by-fours.
Inside the pipes, sprayers disperse the water and keep the environment humid. Jude has added microorganisms to the water to help replicate what would be found in soil. He feeds the microorganisms sugar or molasses.
He keeps meticulous notes on everything he does, like the pH level in the water and the growth rate of each plant.
Where does he get them? That’s tricky since nothing in the state law addresses seeds or seedlings, which can’t be legally acquired. Jude said he trades cuttings — a trimming from a mature female plant — with friends. It takes about six weeks for a cutting to take root and start to flower. It takes months more before the buds can be harvested, dried and then cured to avoid molding. Once a grower harvests a plant, the plant is done producing. Each can produce between 0.5 and 2.5 ounces of marijuana.
All the plants grown have to be females; male plants would pollinate the buds, rendering them unusable.
Jude said marijuana caregivers bristle at the drug language used in manufacturing what the state now considers medicine. That's one of the reasons they sell it by the gram, he said. For his patients, one gram costs $10. There are 28 grams in an ounce.
Jude dismisses hydroponics as a general term and said he’s combined several techniques. He described his process with a rapid-fire combination of horticulture acronyms and street terms like “bubble-ponics,” which means pushing air into the water to add oxygen to the environment.
Buckets and other household containers hold the more mature plants, while smaller plants thrive in their respective pods cut into the pipe system.
A strain called Northern Lights was growing for one of Jude’s patient in Folgers can. He said he likes to give each of them a free ounce of marijuana each month, and he’s not making much money on the endeavor.
Jude said he simply likes to garden, and not just marijuana — his mother was a florist and he helped out with her flower garden as a kid. He also often grows his own vegetables.
The caregiver’s patient
Dale Franz, 73, is one of Jude’s patients. The retired journalist said severe sciatic nerve pain keeps him up at night.
Each marijuana plant produces 0.5 to 2.5 ounces of product.
Lon Horwedel | AnnArbor.com
Marijuana he inhales via a vaporizer helps with the pain and helps him sleep. The Northern Lights plant Jude was growing is for him.
“The difference between using something like medical marijuana and pharmaceutical drugs, for me, is that pain management is a more complex thing than just suppressing pain,” Franz said. “It involves what your feeling about it is, your perception of pain, and I think that the marijuana allows you to examine that subjectively, with your own reactions, much more easily than if you just cover it up with some kind of powerful drug. You can feel the pain, but adjust to it somehow, rather than just try to make it go away, so you’re aware that you’re still on the planet.”
Franz said one of the reasons he uses medical marijuana is to avoid opiate-containing narcotics with ingredients derived from the same plant that produces heroin. He appreciates the relationship he has developed with Jude and his product.
“I’m familiar with his operation,” Franz said. “I’ve seen how he grows his plants. He’s very careful. He’s reliable he’s consistent and he’s very supportive. It’s also a part of the local economy, and it’s a program that ought to be provided for people.”
Juliana Keeping is a health and environment reporter for AnnArbor.com. Reach her at julianakeeping@annarbor.com or 734-623-2528.
Comments
gdwtch
Tue, Feb 22, 2011 : 5:07 p.m.
While I am very pro pot, I have a problem with grow operations springing up in all sorts of residential communiities. Hydro grow ops in rental properties such as apartments etc., cause other community residents to bear the burden of increased water consumption, constant noise (sounds like living under a power plant all night long). It would be very helpful to have some reporting on these issues and how to address them with neighbors so as not to shut down their work from home businesses but to have some sort of regulation that would permit everybody to have a little say so in the matter of infringing on peoples solace of home.
rusty shackelford
Tue, Jan 18, 2011 : 1:43 p.m.
I for one think it's great that people such as Jude are taking skills they learned in part in less-than-legal ways and making an honest living from them.
Mendez
Mon, Jan 17, 2011 : 9:58 p.m.
Eating pot does not get you high? This the type of mis- information spread by ignorance that is the problem. Are you a city council member? The reason I ask is because you are certainly just as misinformed. Consuming marijuana as an edible is a highly effective, extremely powerful body relaxant.
Bill Wilson
Mon, Jan 17, 2011 : 4:37 p.m.
Rodney, Years ago, I quit hanging out with a few friends: they smoked pot from the time they woke up, until the time they went to bed at night. Every extra dime they earned went into supplying their habit. I'd wager they're still doing it, as they talked themselves into the notion that the drug was harmless. Look at this thread. Some stated that the brownies thay eat are more effective than vicodin. This, despite the fact that we discovered years ago that eating pot does not get you high... it's the chemical change of THC within the lungs that does it. But this person has convinced themselves otherwise, illustrating one of pot's true lethal affects: the psychological damage and addiction. My friends are now, all in their 50's, and have to have it. These aren't sick people: they're addicts.
Alan
Mon, Jan 17, 2011 : 1:14 a.m.
Wow, that was fast action! A post I wrote about 20 minutes ago (and at 1AM on sunday night / monday morning no less) got censored -- disappeared into the memory hole. Methinks the Ministry of Truth is working some overtime in these parts.
Alan
Mon, Jan 17, 2011 : 1:09 a.m.
Clara and Carrie: Yes, the endocannabinoid system (endogenous cannabinoids, i.e. marijuana-like compounds produced in the body, and their receptors and effects) is the subject of vast research. You can access the technical literature on it here (medline database): http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed Use search words "cannabinoids" and "endocannabinoids". Add the word "review" get mostly review articles.
Alan
Mon, Jan 17, 2011 : 1 a.m.
Bugjuice wrote: "the Reefer Madness fear and hate mongers and the marijuana and hemp know-nothings...whose baseless opinions on this blog are hard to read for their inaccuracy and misinformation" Here here! The ignorant and unenlightened comments of some participants here is rather depressing. But I guess that is just nature of evolution toward a better, more moral and humane society: slow, and highly imperfect. Still, I tend to think of Ann Arbor as having a tad more insight and potential than, say, Hogjowls, Alabama, or Taliban-controlled villages in Afghanistan. The "Reefer Madness fear and hate mongers" are morally, and in terms of humane and decent values, on the same level as Klansmen or Nazis. We've learned to condemn overt racism, and we don't tolerate it in polite company, but somehow it is still OK to hate (and harass, and imprison, etc.) herb growers and users.
ShadowManager
Mon, Jan 17, 2011 : 12:42 a.m.
This article only confirms what I suspected all along: most of the medicial marijuana "caregivers" are just all the old dealers. I guess that's good they're legitimate, I suppose, but how fast a leopard change its spots? Pot dealers, in my experience, can be some of the most flighty changeable and at times untrustworthy business men of all...let alone "caregivers".
UtrespassM
Sun, Jan 16, 2011 : 8:28 p.m.
Just build a green house in your back yard and grown what ever you want to grown, tomato, flowers and marijuana.
bugjuice
Sun, Jan 16, 2011 : 7:56 p.m.
"Marijuana grown under lights has no where near the THC level as plants produced under intense sunlight." I know that this is probably some "fact" from somewhere on the internets, but it is simply untrue. There are too many variables in making such a gross generalization. Yes, I'm sure that sun grown pot is best, but "no where near" is a phrase fraught with the ability to be misinterpreted, which is what medical marijuana proponents are trying to do, dispel the myths, lies and misinformation. Mr Joad is pretty judgmental for someone who most likely has never grown marijuana and probably doesn't seek its medicinal properties.
clara
Sun, Jan 16, 2011 : 7:45 p.m.
@Carrie, I never heard of such a thing, so I did some digging, what does this mean? "A study done on CB1 knockout mice (genetically altered mice that cannot produce CB1) showed an increase in mortality rate. They also displayed suppressed locomotor activity as well as hypoalgesia (decreased pain sensitivity). The CB1 knockout mice did respond to Delta9-Tetrahydrocannabinol THC. This shows that either CB2 or unknown cannabinoid receptors also have pharmacologic significance." and "It is also expressed on peripheral nerve terminals. Current research suggests that these receptors play a role in nociception, or the perception of pain. In the brain, they are mainly expressed by microglial cells, where their role remains unclear."
Carrie
Sun, Jan 16, 2011 : 6:57 p.m.
First of all lets get one thing out there... there is a chemical receptor in your brain, called a Cannabinoid receptor. This receptor can only receive proteins from 3 sources, human- made in body endocannabinoids, THC produced by cannabis plant, and synthetic cannanbinoids HU-210. So your body is built to receive the cannabis, and uses it to treat and help your body. So for all you say there are no medical effects you should do your research first. Second of all its legal for medical use and illegal for non medical use... so as long as someone has a card for use and follows the rules and laws there is nothing you can do.. so stop wasting your breath. I am sure there are better things the cops could be doing.. like catching real criminals
bugjuice
Sun, Jan 16, 2011 : 5:08 p.m.
From personal experience, as a legit patient of bladder cancer surgery, pot brownies are far more effective than vicodin or morphine and without the side effects of opiates. The bottom line is that the chemical compounds in cannabis are just beginning to be analyzed because of the stigma attached to marijuana by the trillion dollar failed drug war. There is a lot to be learned and re-learned about the plant and it's many uses.
bugjuice
Sun, Jan 16, 2011 : 4:21 p.m.
Despite the efforts of the Reefer Madness fear and hate mongers and the marijuana and hemp know-nothings,( and you all know who you are) whose baseless opinions on this blog are hard to read for their inaccuracy and misinformation, Jude the Grower is doing a great job. Thanks "Bud"! It's 420 here in A2 as I write this.
Chase Ingersoll
Sun, Jan 16, 2011 : 4:12 p.m.
I have never sold or smoked a joint, but I can't find anything in the Bible that would cause me to think that any adult person has an obligation or right to use force to prevent another person from growing and ingesting a particular plant. It is spelled out throughout the Bible, "Thou shalt not steal." Theft by law or majority rule is no more moral or lawful than slavery. It is theft of abilities and choices granted to an individual by the creator and the work of that individuals hand. Theft will lead to violence, and slavery has always led to war. I don't know if marijuana is the best thing for a particular persons condition, but clearly there are people to whom it matters greatly, and who have invested a great deal of their time and talent in that field and they should be allowed to decide the matter for themselves, without the threat of my tax dollars being used to regulate them or knocking down their doors.
Harm
Sun, Jan 16, 2011 : 1:46 p.m.
I don't think cannabis cures anything. It's probably good for pain management in some cases. But it seems likely that most beneficiaries of medical marijuana are those who want to get high recreationally. (This isn't completely a bad thing, I'm willing to believe weed is less destructive than alcohol, though smoking it opens the way for a host of new health issues. Eat it in brownies :) (a non-scientific opinion)
Mendez
Sun, Jan 16, 2011 : 1:39 p.m.
It is true growing indoors is a compromise and a terrible waste of energy. However because it is required by law and has many advantages, u must innovate. As a legitimate business we are able to have solar panels and receive a federal tax credit because u r right again w are in it to provide the best care and make a reasonable return for very hard work. Thats the capitalist part, and the last time I checked we needed commerce and new industry in Ann Arbor. There is a massive infrastructure to be created in order to meet the demand for medical grade marijuana. Organics and sustainable means of growing indoors are part of the final solution. Caregivers are growers, distributors, dealers just like doctors pimp for big pharmacy, lawyers pimp for politicians and the press pimps for big business, it is all very American.
Tom Joad
Sun, Jan 16, 2011 : 1:06 p.m.
I take exception to the term caregiver. He's a dope grower and provider. A caregiver is someone who provide direct patient care, a nurse, a doctor, a nurse's aide. Is the local pharmacist a caregiver as well? Or does he only dispense FDA approved medicine? Medical marijuana is big money. It's not like this guy is changing a bed pan or providing real medial care. Jude probably makes $10,000 every three months judging from the size of his grow operation. He also looks very amateurish by falling for the hydroponic grow system he set up. It's questionable whether marijuana has any efficacy in a patient's health. Marijuana grown under lights has no where near the THC level as plants produced under intense sunlight. It sure smells like dope, though, so it commands top dollar.
Soothslayer
Sun, Jan 16, 2011 : 12:09 p.m.
By rough calculation 1.3 Megawatts/yr is spent just on the lighting alone for this tiny operation. Now add them all up in just this county alone. Washtenaw county is a leader promoting sustainable farming and "going green" in general. We wouldn't grow oranges or avacados here and for good reason. Let these crops grow where they are indigenous and have plenty of natural lighting and warmer climates and just import it. Where's the concern about carbon footprints and CO2 production on these facilities? Because many are the very same supporters and customers.. I'm sorry, "patients". Just like any other capitalist industry run by "teh man" they will justify and defend that it's ok to waste energy and contribute to the greenhouse effect because they want to make the money themselves. Hypocrites.
Slider
Sun, Jan 16, 2011 : 12:06 p.m.
Great, fascinating article!
Deborah
Sun, Jan 16, 2011 : 11:52 a.m.
Cannabis Cures Opiates kill medical science is a profitable boondoggle
Mendez
Sun, Jan 16, 2011 : 11:32 a.m.
We have had three bank robberies in the last 6 months and one incident related to medical marijuana in three years. Pick a different strategy if u want to criticize medical marijuana in ann arbor because they have managed it well so far.
Mendez
Sun, Jan 16, 2011 : 11:29 a.m.
Do not confuse growers with dispensary. You would be hard pressed to tell if there was a caregiver growing next door. A dispensary yes it requires strict zoning and regulation. The grow rooms are a no traffic entity. U have to start clarifying the different roles. Growing does not imply a dispensary or any traffic at all, usually it is exactly the opposite. Would you be ok with someone growing tomatoes in their basement?
clara
Sun, Jan 16, 2011 : 11:27 a.m.
Tomatoes? No, but I do not think anyone is going to break in and stick a gun in their face to rob a tomato grower like the robbery that happened on Main St a little while back.
Mendez
Sun, Jan 16, 2011 : 11:20 a.m.
Actually there are all kinds of home businesses that are legal and during these hard economic times there will be more home grown businesses think the home kitchen rule. Technically the old west side was a craftsman home business zone where the tire repair guy did have a tire shop in his back yard. For years marijuana has been grown under all of your noses illegally and now that it is a legitimate form of income there is a problem? The fact is if it were tomatoes being grown for the farmers market u would be ok with that?
clara
Sun, Jan 16, 2011 : 10:38 a.m.
I thought running any business out of your house or apartment was against most zoning codes due to increased traffic and other factors? Why is selling an unregulated highly sought after product such as this permissible? Can I open a tire repair shop now at my house on a residential street?
Mendez
Sun, Jan 16, 2011 : 9:43 a.m.
Actually I am a firm believer in marijuana dealers growers etc to invert and become legal. One; they have the expertise and infrastructure to keep it local. Hence making it possible to control, Two; I would rather have them pay taxes than pay taxes to criminalize them as we do now. Three: few in the marijuana trade are hardcore criminals and a couple are probably your neighbors.
ed
Sun, Jan 16, 2011 : 9:39 a.m.
ok, walking joe i see you used your real name.
EightySeven
Sun, Jan 16, 2011 : 9:38 a.m.
@WalkingJoe- You are so right on your comments. It is amazing how these feel good stories always workout. From a criminal past to citizen of the year.
WalkingJoe
Sun, Jan 16, 2011 : 9:10 a.m.
It's interesting to me that this Jude is a former drug dealer with a criminal past and now we want to make him out like he's a hero because he's growing "Medical Marijuana". Give me a break! If he's so proud of turning his life around why not use his real name. I think there may be uses for medical marijuana but if your not willing to share your name maybe your still doing something shady.
Steve Megan
Sun, Jan 16, 2011 : 8:55 a.m.
you people are crazy. it is legal for him to grow as long as he has a card and so do the people he grows for. maybe XMO needs to do research first. IT IS LEGAL people deal with it
Mendez
Sun, Jan 16, 2011 : 8:38 a.m.
People who believe that saying marijuana is bad, illegal and everyone should be arrested just for saying the truth is in denial of the fact that on two separate days in 2010 over a half a million pounds (each day) of hi-grade Mexican buds were seized headed into the US. I venture to say that is more pot grown in michigan annually for the last five years. I can still remember high school and Nancy Reagan's " just say No" campaign Apparently we are all saying yes the other 363 days a year.
Brad
Sun, Jan 16, 2011 : 8:30 a.m.
Illegal? "In April 2009, it became legal to use and grow marijuana for patients [...]"
xmo
Sun, Jan 16, 2011 : 7:59 a.m.
Why is this story being reported on line? The police should be arresting the grower and the reporter. What this person is doing is illegal, by reporting it you show everybody (including young children) that they do not have to follow all of the laws if they do not want to.
Mendez
Sun, Jan 16, 2011 : 7:11 a.m.
Good reporting - thanks Jude for sharing. It should be noted that as city council meets tomorrow they seem to have failed to grasp the fact that there are hundreds of growers like jude in ann arbor. Small grow ops like these are exactly what city council should be supporting. Instead they seem to be focused on encouraging a few large scale grow-op/dispensaries where they can make a little flash cash on licensing. If legal caregivers are to provide legal marijuana to the community of patients and make a decent living for their legal services, then the dispensaries must be forced into retail only sales (no growing) and sell certified ann arbo,r maybe washetenaw county grown marijuana. Jude will not be able to compete with Mexican hi grade @$5 per gram and California syndicate weed that is dropping in price as they annually ramp up to serve the Michigan market. Jude is a small business/home industry generating income he spends in our community. That's called economic stimulus. If we were charging a 15% certification fee split between grower/dispensary/patient we could generate significant city revenue continuously and minimize enforcement with the incentive for growers to get certified. The city could be the first municipality In the country to utilize medical marijuana for the benefit of the entire community. Instead of 10,15,,20,30,40 dispensaries?