Medical marijuana using urban Aquaponic gardens for cultivation

SAN DIEGO (KUSI) — A local cannabis farmer is still feeling the effects of an armed robbery that happened over the weekend. The robbers got away with about 18 pounds of marijuana.

But this is an urban farm that caters only to medical marijuana patients and they use a very unique system of farming.

Over the weekend, three man broke into the farm, one of them armed with a gun.

They got away with 18 pounds of marijuana, but they probably didn’t know they were stealing from patients who use cannabis as medicine, instead of opioids. 

This cannabis farm is a unique place. It’s an urban garden called "151 Farms."

They grow a lot of different plants, including cannabis and hops, using a technique called "Aquaponics," which is essentially a self-contained ecosystem using fish poop as fertilizer.

The waste from the fish farm feeds into the potted plants. 

The plants are happy, the fish are happy and it saves water and doesn’t use chemicals.

Their main product is medical cannabis and they’d like to distance themselves from the stigma of recreational marijuana.

Medical cannabis has been legal in California since 1996. It took 20 more years to legalize marijuana for recreational use. 

Even though voters approved it, the social stigma against it is deep and widespread. 

Sean Major is a retired U.S. Marine who suffers from PTSD. He was the first marine allowed to use medical cannabis while in service.

Now that he’s out, he’s trying to spread the word about the medical miracle he has personally experience using cannabis products.

For more information on urban Aquaponic farming visit here.