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California now has the biggest legal marijuana market in the world. Its black market is even bigger >“The illegal market is competitive because legal marijuana

California now has the biggest legal marijuana market in the world. Its black market is even bigger >“The illegal market is competitive because legal marijuana is so expensive to produce under Prop. 64,” said Dale Gieringer, director of Cal NORML, which supported the initiative though it preferred other regulations. https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-08-14/californias-biggest-legal-marijuana-market https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019-08-14/californ...

dillonmckay 7y ago
$60 for 3.54g.
- elmcrest 7y ago
  Grow your own?
  - archi42 7y ago
    According to the article some hippies are doing this. Maybe they have more regards for nature than the guys in the "main story", but it isn't really clarified. Could well be those poison the environment with organic poison or fertilizer.
    - hutzlibu 7y ago
      No hippie I know, would ever use any poison on the sacred plants that are supposed to make them high.
    - gregd 7y ago
      I grew up in the heart of the Emerald Triangle. I can assure you that no 'hippy' is doing this. Their relationship with this plant is far different than everyone else's.
    - bluntfang 7y ago
      A couple rounds of flowering plants indoors in a 4 plant tent will yield you cheaper weed and probably enough to last the casual smoker years.
    - GhettoMaestro 7y ago
      Check out "Murder Mountain" on Netflix. It opened my eyes to what the typical covert pot-grower in Humboldt County most likely is.
- wolco 7y ago
  Wow that's a crazy price.
- dopamean 7y ago
  50-60 for an eighth is what I've paid my entire life living in NY, Philadelphia, and Orlando. I moved to Texas a few years ago and now have a regular guy who sells eighths for 40. It's the lowest I've ever paid for high grade bud. I thought I was getting a deal but apparently this is normal?
  - peller 7y ago
    That's pretty normal for black-market prices. But at least in Colorado, you can get an ounce of top shelf for $120-$140 after taxes (which are 25%). Eighths go for $20-$30. Street prices are even cheaper, but unless you know the grower personally, you obviously don't really know what you're getting.
    - dopamean 7y ago
      Wow. I had no idea.
  - TheHypnotist 7y ago
    It is normal. It's actually much cheaper in some legal states, but not all, and i'm not terribly sure why outside the fact that I can assume some states put higher restrictions on growers/shops. California is more expensive than it needs to be, but by no means is it way above normal market for the non-legal states. Never mind the array of products and the (near) guarantee you aren't paying for trash.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
exabrial 7y ago
So basically taxing something created an illegal (and unsafe) market (again). We've never seen this happen.
- tayo42 7y ago
  One of the big selling points of legal weed was the ability to tax it. Now tax is bad and messing up everything so we shouldn't tax it at all? Its interesting it happened like this.
  - ghaff 7y ago
    To a first approximation, probably no one promoting legalization because of the tax revenue actually cared about the additional tax revenue. It was just an argument to get voters who were ambivalent about legalization and wouldn't personally be buying on board. Taxes that only hit other people are quite popular.
    - themaninthedark 7y ago
      But it was used as a selling point. "Make it legal and tax it, win win!" "Once you do that the cartels lose!" Seems like another lie, cartels can now launder product and expand reach. I say all this as someone who does not care what people inhale or ingest. But look at it from the point of view of the teetotalers and bureaucracy. It looks like a fucking mess and now we are being told that we should do the same for heroin to reduce fentenal deaths... I don't have a solution but I am not sure more of the same is gonna help at all.
      - ghaff 7y ago
        >But it was used as a selling point. Yes. That's pretty much what I said. A lot of those using it as a selling point didn't actually care that much about the benefits to the state of a new taxation stream. That said, I'm willing to believe that a lot of people assumed that people were willing to pay a lot more to go with a vetted legal source (or would only go with a vetted legal source) than has, in fact turned out to be the case. There's at least some evidence I've read that suggests legalization hasn't led to a lot of increased use. If that's the case, it's reasonable to assume a lot of users already knew how to acquire pot in the black market and don't see a lot of reason to start spending more to go legal.
dragonwriter 7y ago
> California now has the biggest legal marijuana market in the world. No, it doesn't; there is no legal marijuana market in California, just as there is no legal market in California for products violating the anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA. Everyone involved in the marijuana trade (including investors) in California is breaking federal criminal law, and if they are successful enough potentially the drug kingpin law. This is actually, from what I gather, aquire important factor in the business dynamics of what is frequently mislabeled as the “legal” marijuana trade in California.

dillonmckay 7y ago

$60 for 3.54g.

elmcrest 7y ago
Grow your own?
- archi42 7y ago
  According to the article some hippies are doing this. Maybe they have more regards for nature than the guys in the "main story", but it isn't really clarified. Could well be those poison the environment with organic poison or fertilizer.
  - hutzlibu 7y ago
    No hippie I know, would ever use any poison on the sacred plants that are supposed to make them high.
  - gregd 7y ago
    I grew up in the heart of the Emerald Triangle. I can assure you that no 'hippy' is doing this. Their relationship with this plant is far different than everyone else's.
  - bluntfang 7y ago
    A couple rounds of flowering plants indoors in a 4 plant tent will yield you cheaper weed and probably enough to last the casual smoker years.
  - GhettoMaestro 7y ago
    Check out "Murder Mountain" on Netflix. It opened my eyes to what the typical covert pot-grower in Humboldt County most likely is.
wolco 7y ago
Wow that's a crazy price.
dopamean 7y ago
50-60 for an eighth is what I've paid my entire life living in NY, Philadelphia, and Orlando. I moved to Texas a few years ago and now have a regular guy who sells eighths for 40. It's the lowest I've ever paid for high grade bud. I thought I was getting a deal but apparently this is normal?
- peller 7y ago
  That's pretty normal for black-market prices. But at least in Colorado, you can get an ounce of top shelf for $120-$140 after taxes (which are 25%). Eighths go for $20-$30. Street prices are even cheaper, but unless you know the grower personally, you obviously don't really know what you're getting.
  - dopamean 7y ago
    Wow. I had no idea.
- TheHypnotist 7y ago
  It is normal. It's actually much cheaper in some legal states, but not all, and i'm not terribly sure why outside the fact that I can assume some states put higher restrictions on growers/shops. California is more expensive than it needs to be, but by no means is it way above normal market for the non-legal states. Never mind the array of products and the (near) guarantee you aren't paying for trash.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]

exabrial 7y ago

So basically taxing something created an illegal (and unsafe) market (again). We've never seen this happen.

tayo42 7y ago
One of the big selling points of legal weed was the ability to tax it. Now tax is bad and messing up everything so we shouldn't tax it at all? Its interesting it happened like this.
- ghaff 7y ago
  To a first approximation, probably no one promoting legalization because of the tax revenue actually cared about the additional tax revenue. It was just an argument to get voters who were ambivalent about legalization and wouldn't personally be buying on board. Taxes that only hit other people are quite popular.
  - themaninthedark 7y ago
    But it was used as a selling point. "Make it legal and tax it, win win!" "Once you do that the cartels lose!" Seems like another lie, cartels can now launder product and expand reach. I say all this as someone who does not care what people inhale or ingest. But look at it from the point of view of the teetotalers and bureaucracy. It looks like a fucking mess and now we are being told that we should do the same for heroin to reduce fentenal deaths... I don't have a solution but I am not sure more of the same is gonna help at all.
    - ghaff 7y ago
      >But it was used as a selling point. Yes. That's pretty much what I said. A lot of those using it as a selling point didn't actually care that much about the benefits to the state of a new taxation stream. That said, I'm willing to believe that a lot of people assumed that people were willing to pay a lot more to go with a vetted legal source (or would only go with a vetted legal source) than has, in fact turned out to be the case. There's at least some evidence I've read that suggests legalization hasn't led to a lot of increased use. If that's the case, it's reasonable to assume a lot of users already knew how to acquire pot in the black market and don't see a lot of reason to start spending more to go legal.

dragonwriter 7y ago

> California now has the biggest legal marijuana market in the world. No, it doesn't; there is no legal marijuana market in California, just as there is no legal market in California for products violating the anti-circumvention provisions of the DMCA. Everyone involved in the marijuana trade (including investors) in California is breaking federal criminal law, and if they are successful enough potentially the drug kingpin law. This is actually, from what I gather, aquire important factor in the business dynamics of what is frequently mislabeled as the “legal” marijuana trade in California.