It's a fair question: Will marijuana cheap-as-a-drugstore-cigar hurt the state's cannabis industry, a rare bright spot in California's dismal economy?

A recent study by Santa Monica-based RAND Corporation states that pot prices could drop 80 percent — as low as $1.50 for a joint — if the cannabis legalization proposition (19) passes in November.

Now there's serious, er, stress in the medical pot trade about what will happen if and when the floodgates of firing up open for everyone 21 and older. Some fear that jobs will be lost:

Lou Marchetti, a Teamsters Union leader recently helped organize medical marijuana workers in Oakland, tells the Sacramento Bee:

“If it passes, there is a fear of giant corporations coming in and, when the Rand Corp. says it could drop the prices, that gets a little scary.”

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