Young, twentysomething Californians with advanced degrees are figuring out what Nancy Botwin has known since her husband died: growing and selling marijuana on the black market in a down economy is a swell idea. J.B. Powell (who used to write for the Bay Guardian) penned an article about regular Bay Area folks growing pot in order to stave off eviction, hunger, and creditor calls.

"For me, I'm just looking for this to help me pay rent, utilities, basic things like that," a "slender, bearded 27-year-old" explains to Powell. "Once this gets going, it requires minimal day-to-day maintenance. It's just starting it up that's hard, but I have time for that right now."

Some of these small-time growers are also using (presumably bogus) medical marijuana prescriptions to get plants.

"You can get your clones at any club for like 12 bucks," says a "Nordic-looking blond" with a newborn kid and tens of thousands of dollars in student loan and credit debt. "It's amazing, high-yielding weed that basically grows itself. You don't have to do any of the traditional stuff like breeding the best strains. You don't have to do any hybridizing. I mean, I've never had to own a male plant."

Good tip.

Anyway, since growing and selling is illegal for the Average Joe, it's proving most beneficial for these young adults. One grower, "Adam," who plans to vote no on the November legalization measure, says, "There's no doubt that an operation like this benefits from the black market ... I mean, it's still worth more than its weight in gold right now. But if anybody can suddenly grow it, it'll probably wind up worth about as much as tomatoes."

In the end, it's just pot. Selling it, arguably, isn't a moral offense. It's as bad as, say, selling bad cocaine at nightclubs or pure heroin to toddlers. Read more at Salon.