I_S VISITS A LEGAL MARIJUANA SHOP

After going out to breakfast this morning I walked down the street to check out my first legal weed shop in person. I was curious to find out if the prices for weed on priceofweed.com in states where it had been legalized were based on legal purchases or black market because their website does not say. I walked there mostly because I don’t want my license plate recorded (if that kind of thing is going on) but it is colder than a well diggers ass out there at 7 degrees above zero!

The place was clean and neat with no hint of marijuana aroma at all. Called Smokane, it looked a bit like a white sterile hospital room with jewelry display cases. There was a chalk board menu of their products on the wall which isn’t really helpful unless you are familiar with the hundreds of different strains that exist. They break things down by type which falls into sativa (head high) and indica (body high) and hybrids which supposedly offer aspects of both.

The names that growers come up with are endlessly creative and quite often accurately describe the aroma given off by each strain. For instance there was a strain called Blueberry Cheesecake which smells exactly like what it sounds like with an added fresh, herbally familiar aroma of weed. Pineapple Express had the unmistakable aroma of pineapple. I’m told that with the advent of vaping, you can actually taste these flavors as well. It seems that selecting weed is a lot like choosing wine. Vaping, for those that don’t know, is a method of consuming weed that does not burn it like smoking does. The weed is heated in a very controlled way that avoids combustion but instead converts the effect causing compounds to a vapor. Vaporizers come in all shapes and sizes from ball point pen size to table top (flower vase) size. Vaping is said to be much healthier for the lungs and eliminates the numerous harmful compounds caused by combustion. Apparently few people smoke weed anymore.

There are coffee cup sized clear containers that have little magnifying lenses in the sides to help you see the weed and a little capped port on top that allows you to smell the weed. I love the smell of weed! Always have! Each strain is offered in various sized packages from one gram up to one ounce. I’m sure the use of metric weights throws off the limited brain power of many stoners. The clean cut guy behind the counter said that they have to explain it quite a bit. One avoirdupois ounce equals 28.3 grams and I can easily do the math in my head. He said that people buying a gram at a time are usually short on funds and paying with a mix of ones, fives and change or they were people looking to sample different strains before committing to a larger quantity or one strain. Back in the day, most guys I knew would smoke a gram between the door and their car! An 1/8th ounce might last them a day or weekend at the most. That never made sense to me because if you smoke a joint you get plenty high and it lasts 2-3 hours. If you smoked 10 joints at once you would achieve the EXACT SAME high as one joint and it would last 2-3 hours so smoking more weed, more frequently is just a waste IMO. Like I’ve said, stoners aren’t the brightest bunch.

You can’t get price breaks for buying in quantity. Gram sized packages cost more per ounce than all other sizes because it’s more labor intensive to weigh and package it. Everything is pre-packaged and sealed. Eighth ounce, ¼, ½ and one ounce sizes are cheaper per ounce than grams but there are no price breaks beyond that.

I asked what was the most potent, “knock you dick in the dirt” weed they had. He said it depended on what kind of high I was looking for but that based strictly on THCA content a strain called Silver Tip was it at 28% total THCA. It was $15 per gram which works out to $420/ounce. The same strain sells for $256/ounce in sizes 1/8th – 1 ounce. The maximum you can legally buy is 2 ounces at a time. So, it seems the prices on priceofweed.com for WA are based on or inline with the legal weed shops in WA state.

I can only imagine that quality and potency have done nothing but improve in the nearly 11 years since I last smoked and as my article yesterday, MARIJUANA TRUTH pointed out, the highest quality weed was selling for $300/ounce on the black market back then. So, legalization has brought prices down even with the govt taxing it.

When weed was first legalized in WA there was a tax scheme in place that taxed the grower at 25%, the processor at 25% and the retailer at 25%. That was recently changed to a single point of sale tax of 37%. How often do you see a tax reduction like that on anything?

I asked if he felt that the black market has a negative effect on legal sales. He said he doesn’t know anyone among his friends who buy on the black market and customers seem to really enjoy the increased availability, large selection and consistent quality. Availability was always an issue in the past and it was hit & miss many times. Selection was limited at best and usually non-existent prior to legalization. Quality was always a concern in the past. Everything from accurate weights, moisture content, mold, seeds and odd aromas due to perfumes/colognes, air fresheners etc affected quality then. Now, weed must undergo lab testing to rule out any contamination. Moisture content is very consistent and controlled which keeps weights accurate. Odd aromas caused by contamination of the growing and processing are a thing of the past. The salesman said that everyone comments on the much improved quality since legalization.

I also made a stupid inquiry about whether they had experienced or heard of threats from gangs, criminals or drug cartels in any way and the guy laughed and looked at me like I was an idiot. He said that weed shops experienced some early break in attempts but the products are always stored in a dispensary safe after hours.

Apart from glancing at your ID to confirm your age, no personal info was asked for or required. They do offer a customer loyalty program that uses your email to deliver special offers but participation is optional. All sales are cash only and a deposit safe is employed to secure the cash from employees and robbery. I asked if the banking/credit issues hindered the business in any way but be said that the owner handles all of that and he didn’t know. He said that he does receive a payroll check and taxes are deducted. He also said that he files his own taxes and has no issues using his bank account to cash checks.

I felt really bad about taking up the guy’s time without making a purchase. I was half considering quitting my job and buying one of everything in the shop to celebrate the New Year! You can buy pre-rolled joints, righteous buds, edibles in dozens of varieties and concentrates like oil, wax, shatter and hash. It’s fucking awesome! I never dreamed I’d see something like this in my lifetime in the USA.

It seems that so far, most if not all of my concerns about legalization are unfounded and many things like the amazing selection and quality were complete surprises and a big plus! Decriminalization would have maintained the former availability/quality concerns. In most cases decriminalization only applies to possession and use. Things like producing, selling and buying usually remain illegal which presents a conundrum and maintains the risk of arrest and jail time for associated crimes.

I still have concerns about license plates of legal weed customers being harvested and later used to bust CCP holders on felony gun & drug charges. It also goes against the grain that the govt benefits from taxing it. I believe that eventually the marijuana industry will be bought and controlled by big corporate concerns just like tobacco is. Big tobacco is currently investing in and expanding their presence in the liquids used in eCigarette products. From what I hear they are doing extensive R&D in the marijuana industry. No doubt they will end up restricting selection and adding all sorts of shit to it to turn it from a natural product into a Frankenstein like product that cigarettes have become. I hope I’m wrong.