A lot wrong with your statement. Weed isn't imported. It's grown domestically. Here was a billion dollar field in California that got caught (1). There are many more.
The next part of slave labor is just false. Trimmers I met were earning $500 to $1,000 a day. $100 per lb trimmed was pretty common. If anything, creating an import model will guarantee we use slaves. Columbia exports cannabis legally to Europe already with a lot less worker protections than in the US.
> Trimmers I met were earning $500 to $1,000 a day. $100 per lb trimmed was pretty common.
I don't believe this, the numbers don't line up. If it's wet, doing 5 pounds in a day is reasonable, but nobody's going to pay you $100/pound for it. 5 pounds of wet is a little over a pound dried, so $500 is around a quarter of the total sale price. I just don't believe anyone is paying that much for something a child with safety scissors could do (albeit much worse). I also don't believe that growers wouldn't simply buy automatic bud trimmers. They're not as good, but I would be willing to bet that consumers would be happy to not pay the apparent 25% trimmer markup in exchange for slightly less pretty buds.
If that's dry bud, the price is reasonable, but there's no way in hell anyone is trimming 5-10 pounds of dry bud a day. That's like a rolling curbside garbage bin full of weed.
I don't think they're using slave labor, but given the number of people I've heard wanting to do it so they can work with weed, I'd be surprised if they're paying significantly more than minimum wage. I'd wager it's very close to $15/hour + perks, where "perks" mostly means "all the free weed you can smoke".
The next part of slave labor is just false. Trimmers I met were earning $500 to $1,000 a day. $100 per lb trimmed was pretty common. If anything, creating an import model will guarantee we use slaves. Columbia exports cannabis legally to Europe already with a lot less worker protections than in the US.
(1) https://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/la-county-sheriff-m...