Here is my thing.... The reason people can grow 8-12 pounds every month or every two months, and lets say with a 95% overage (to be extreme) and are able to sell off all overages at high prices that would give them a large income is because there is an OPEN market that allows them to. This is not street dealer markets. Any grower with an overage can go to a compassion club or the farmers market and sell their medicine at MARKET VALUE. There is a market value because there is a demand with consumers WILLING and ABLE to pay that amount. If they couldn't afford it, simple economics would tell us that prices would drop. This is all possible BECAUSE not every cardholder has a debilitating injury/disease rendering them disabled. In fact, only 2/5 of medical marijuana users have admitted to not being a recreational smoker prior to getting their card. And I'd have to find the survey but there are around 35% that take it for ease of pain from injury or cancer radiation, sleep, anxiety, and relaxation. Of that 35%, I think only 31% was for pain. So the majority of these patients may have an ailment but are able to hold and maintain jobs. Not all are on medicaid with social security incomes. And of that, you have a large and growing even larger number of people who paid their $200 and got a card just to get a card. So those who can afford it can pay for it.
There is nothing wrong with that. Look at the medicine industry..... if they weren't out for a profit, they wouldn't patent their most needed medicines and sue companies overseas for for making knock offs that sell their meds DIRT CHEAP to villages that wouldn't be able to afford it otherwise.
The moral high ground of course would be to give your medicine to the needy. In every economical structure there is a welfare system for the neediest. So for those who are on a fixed disability income should be given meds for free. And for those who make $30k a year but really need their medicine to continue with their lives and employment, they can pay what is recommended at $3/gram.
To grow and only ask for enough to scrape by is foolish. If you grow a large amount.... the amount you are ENTITLED TO GROW, then you'd know it is a full time job in itself. If there wasn't a market, there'd be no need to talk about this but there IS a market.