MARIJUANA TRUTH

Almost two years ago SSS made a prediction………..

Taken from:

COLORADO AND MARIJUANA – THE BUBBLE WILL BURST

Posted on 11th January 2014 by SSS

“Legal marijuana sales in Colorado, undoubtedly spurred by the initial high demand, is already selling for 2-3 times the price you would pay on the black market. Just like New York and NYC, which enjoyed an initial explosion in cigarette tax revenues when they enacted Draconian taxes, this will not last. The Mexicans who control the marijuana black markets in Colorado will see to it. “In 2012 the Mexican Competitiveness Institute issued a report saying that Mexico’s cartels would lose as much as $1.425 billion if Colorado legalized marijuana.” That’s not pocket change, and the people you’re trying to take that money from carry guns. Guns with high capacity magazines, which are against the law in Colorado. Heh. Don’t you just love the irony?”

“I have said repeatedly in the past that these violent organizations will not go quietly into that good night. Over time, I will be proven right. And it will be sooner rather than later because the stakes are so much higher. Avoid the rush and express your appreciation for this keen market analysis with your effusive praise as soon as possible.”

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PRICES
Well, well, well! I wasn’t going to address the price aspect of weed because my own personal experience with weed prices is a bit dated. I intended to address the Big Bad Mexican Drug Cartel influence on legal weed that SSS claimed would come to pass. I’ll get to that in a moment but since it’s so easy to destroy his “price of weed” nonsense I’ll do that first.

Unfortunately for the last 11 years I’ve had to pee for employment rather than enjoyment so I have no current personal experience with buying weed. However, eleven years ago when I was smoking weed an ounce of high grade “knock your dick into the dirt” black market weed cost roughly $300 per ounce. Sometimes they asked for more and as I walked away they would agree to $300 instead of $320 or $340. I simply refused to pay more than $300. A lesser grade of weed was usually $200-$250/ounce and the shitty Mexican Brown was about $100/ounce.

TODAY, according to priceofweed.com I can buy an ounce of LEGAL, high grade “knock your dick into the dirt” weed for……drumroll please………$232! That’s right sports fans, ELEVEN years later, despite TAXES and associated LICENSING FEES and the usual costs of doing business at the retail level I can LEGALLY buy high grade weed for approximately $70 LESS!! Weed must be the miracle product to defy ELEVEN YEARS of inflation, increased govt imposed fees for production and taxes on the sale of the stuff! The lesser grade of weed here can now be had LEGALLY for $188/ounce.

Prices of weed in CO, CA, and AZ compare very favorably with prices in WA using current prices from priceofweed.com. Interestingly, prices in TX where I assume the Mexican Cartels still exert a big influence on weed prices, an ounce of high grade and lesser grade weed are $326 & $235 respectively.

Even I expected weed prices to go up with legalization but that has not happened at the retail level and black market prices have come down. It would seem to me that the market could easily tolerate 30% higher prices based on what people were paying for illegal weed eleven years ago. It seems that allowing producers to scale up their small closet operations caused the prices to drop.

SSS-0, Legal Weed-1

MEXICAN DRUG CARTEL INFLUENCE SINCE LEGALIZATION
SSS falsely claimed that “these violent organizations will not go quietly into that good night.”

cough, cough BULLSHIT, cough cough

From the article here: http://www.attn.com/stories/2221/legalized-marijuana-good-states-bad-cartels

“But the benefits of legalized cannabis in Oregon, like in other states, will likely extend beyond state borders. In Mexico, where marijuana has enjoyed something of a cash-crop status over the years, violent drug cartels are beginning to see their grip loosen on what was once a tightly cornered market as the reach of U.S.-grown pot expands in legal states. And while exports of other illegal drugs have increased in the vacuum of marijuana’s shrinking money-making viability, relaxed marijuana laws in the U.S. are crippling a once robust cash flow for cartels.”

From a different article here: http://time.com/3801889/us-legalization-marijuana-trade/

“….the amount of one drug — marijuana — seems to have finally fallen. U.S. Border Patrol has been seizing steadily smaller quantities of the drug, from 2.5 million pounds in 2011 to 1.9 million pounds in 2014. Mexico’s army has noted an even steeper decline, confiscating 664 tons of cannabis in 2014, a drop of 32% compared to year before.”

And

“This fall appears to have little to do with law enforcement, however, and all to do with the wave of U.S. marijuana legalization. The votes by Colorado and Washington State to legalize marijuana in 2012, followed by Alaska, Oregon and D.C. last year have created a budding industry.”

From another article here: http://www.drugfree.org/join-together/legalization-marijuana-u-s-states-appears-impact-mexican-cartels/

“At the same time that marijuana seizures have declined, violence has also decreased in Mexico—from almost 23,000 murders in 2011 to 15,649 last year. Experts are debating how much of the decline is due to marijuana legalization in the United States. They note the level of violence in Mexico is still high.”

I could keep posting similar sources but I think you get the point. SSS has so far been wrong. I don’t know how SSS ever figured that the cartels would influence legalization. Did he really think the states would implement laws, regulations and an entire bureaucratic system to get their piece of the pie just to turn around and allow criminals to run roughshod over it? To be perfectly fair and honest, unlike SSS, he did say with respect to Mexican Cartel influence that “Over time, I will be proven right.” but he never specified a time period. Touché SSS you may still win but will you be alive to see it?

Here is why the cartels will not control weed in WA. This state requires every single plant to be tagged with a unique identifier and this identifier follows each plant right up to the point of packaging, sale or destruction. It’s even on the final packaging the customer receives. Grow operations are subject to constant inspection to ensure compliance. As far as I know only WA grown weed can be sold in WA. Because of the draconian compliance regulations every gram and every dollar is tracked. The state is ensuring that they get every penny owed to them.

The black market still exists and I have no doubt that the cartels are involved with it but to a VERY limited degree. I have the following on good authority based on personal experience and that of dealers I’ve used in the past. In WA our climate is not conducive to large scale outdoor grow operations. Yes there are some areas but a late or early frost can ruin a crop in a hurry. Consequently, most weed available here has been grown indoors for decades. That shitty Mexican Brown weed was shipped in but it was always a white person selling it and very few wanted it. It was the indoor grow operations of Amsterdam that inspired the stoners in British Columbia (BC) to try their hand at homegrown. It was the proliferation of high quality, indoor grown BC bud in the 80’s/90’s that enticed every stoner in WA to try their hand at homegrown. Most failed or produced very low quality weed. Quite a few succeeded and began trading techniques and honing their craft just like home brewers do.

The result of this on the local market was to create a fairly large number of very high quality micro grow operations that would literally fit in an small closet in hundreds of homes across the state. The growers themselves came from every segment of society…..professionals to scumbags and everyone in between.

I used to buy whole ounces for personal use because it kept well and cost far less than buying “dime bags” and minimized my chances of getting caught. (An ounce could last me a year.) My main source used two Photoron machines purchased from High Times Magazine. At any given time she had four immature plants and four mature plants growing. Nearly everyone I knew had exactly these kinds of connections. No one I knew bought weed on the street. You were more likely to be invited to dinner in their home or to lunch at a restaurant or to a bar where the deal would go down discreetly. High quality Mexican produced weed grown outdoors in CA & OR was certainly available but rather rare. I know this because my former boss (who flew C-141’s in the AF reserve) loved Humboldt County weed and at times it was hard for him to get.

That is pretty much how things remained until it was legalized here.  Despite legalization the black market still exists and black market weed is cheaper than the legal variety. I have a friend with a medical MJ card that allows him to grow his own weed. He used to be a dealer who sold his own product so he is well versed in creating hybrids and improving yield and potency. His card allows him to grow a very limited number of plants but he exceeds that because he enjoys the process and challenge of producing a better product. I mentioned this before……..this friend actually gives his excess weed away for free. If I was still smoking myself I’d never have to buy weed again. I doubt that the black market will ever go away.

I only see legalization failing via Federal lawsuits. There are apparently one or more cases headed for the Supreme Court which could trump state laws but I’m not confident they’ll succeed.

I’ll be doing a bit of research on the unfolding weed industry here in Washington since legalization just to keep SSS honest when he tries to fire up his propaganda machine in the future. It may even result in an article for TBP.

SSS-0, Legal Weed-2……..stay tuned for a shut out!