Will a Desert Town Test Marijuana's Saturation Point?

I have covered economic development in Texas, where communities compete for business as if it is a sport. So a story about Needles, a struggling desert town that was name-checked in “The Grapes of Wrath,” caught my eye. The community is now looking at the marijuana industry as a kind of economic savior — but the town already faces plenty of competition. I asked New York Times reporter Nathaniel Popper about the possibilities of pot.

Jill Cowan:Many smaller communities see opportunity in marijuana. But is there a saturation point?

Nathaniel Popper: At some point in the distant future, we will probably test the limits of how many towns and counties can cash in on the marijuana boom, but it is safe to say for now that point is a long way off.

One factor that has been limiting the growth of the industry so far is that federal laws make it illegal to transport the plant across state lines, even to other places where it’s legal. If it becomes legal to transport joints and vape pens across state lines, it’s easy to imagine California becoming the pot basket of the country, with all the jobs that entails.

On the other hand, as commercial operations spring up, the price of pot is falling fast, challenging a lot of the early players.

Cowan: Can a small town like Needles really compete with places that can host “Big Ag"-style marijuana operations?

Popper: I was fascinated to learn that Needles aims to be a center of pot production even though it does not allow growing the plants outside.

I figured this would make it hard to compete with places like Santa Barbara County, where pot producers are allowed to grow outside. But even though growing marijuana indoors is more expensive on a day-to-day basis, it can be much more efficient because the lights can stay on all night, with growing continuing through the year. Indoor facilities can also make it easier to turn out a uniform product.

All that means that there is room in the industry for towns that have cheap land and electricity, alongside the areas that have plentiful farmland.

Cowan: Needles is in the desert, which has become a kind of Instagrammer’s paradise. Is it trying to attract tourists, too?

Popper: That’s what I was expecting. Needles has all these old hotels from the days when Route 66 was a major source of travelers. I figured somebody would be fixing one of them up to be a Weed Inn, with a library of psychedelic movies and lots of Doritos and Cheetos at the front desk.

But given the conservative politics of the town, I doubt it will look to become a destination for stoners.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.