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Why is a bag of weed always $10 (man)?

timharford.com

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Re: Why is a bag of weed always $10 (man)?

#61

Post by char »

Currently a gram of medical grade marijuana (or any 'good quality' pot) is around $20.

The author says that a gram costs, and always has costed, $10. This can certainly be true today if he's buying relatively low quality marijuana. If he's been smoking for many decades, he'd notice the quality of pot has gone up significantly, but so has the price. The kind of stuff my generation's parents smoked in the 70s is now what people are selling for $10 a gram, and apparently what the author is still buying.

Re: Why is a bag of weed always $10 (man)?

#64

Post by dedward »

wmeredith wrote: post #48

This doesn't make sense because it's not true. I was an avid pot smoker in my college days (long time ago, now) and even over the relatively small span of a 3 year time period I paid everything for a quarter-ounce (~7 grams) from $10 ("ditch weed") to $400 (REALLY good stuff from Cali or Colorado). So I'm not sure what he's talking about with the $10/gram thing being some benchmark that's lasted decades. I know that'…

I think he's referring to buying by the gram, not looking at bulk costs.

Re: Why is a bag of weed always $10 (man)?

#65

Post by bl4k »

There is a huge variation in the price of pot, depending on the type of pot (again, a large variation), where you are, what time of year it is, and who you are buying it from.

What the $10 is referring to are the bags you can buy on street corners in some cities. It is the same with crack and heroin, a standard and simple price, with standard terminology (a bag, a dime, etc.) all to make the street-based transaction easier and less conspicuous.

It has no bearing on the real value of pot, which can vary from a few dollars a gram through to $50+ a gram. What changes is the type and amount of pot you get in a $10 bag.

Re: Why is a bag of weed always $10 (man)?

#66

Post by dedward »

I'd grant that, while not always $10, the price of a gram (usually the smallest unit sold, other than guys selling individual joints here and there) - the reason you don't see a lot of price fluctuation is becuase this is a bottom-end price. The markup is already huge - there is lots of market fluctuation for the people buying from growers and buying quarter-pounds and whatnot, depending on quality, quantity, market, etc..... but at some point, it's weed man. It's not worth someone's time to do a transaction for less than $10 (or similar) - even if they're buying at a much lower price.

Re: Why is a bag of weed always $10 (man)?

#67

Post by yason »

char wrote: post #61

Currently a gram of medical grade marijuana (or any 'good quality' pot) is around $20. The author says that a gram costs, and always has costed, $10. This can certainly be true today if he's buying relatively low quality marijuana. If he's been smoking for many decades, he'd notice the quality of pot has gone up significantly, but so has the price. The kind of stuff my generation's parents smoked in the 70s is now wh…

If you can get the same quality stuff for $10 you bought in the 80's for $10, that would still be phenomenal.

Re: Why is a bag of weed always $10 (man)?

#68

Post by dedward »

omarchowdhury wrote: post #52
nhebb wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was a kid in the mid-70's a "lid" cost $25. A lid was a pound of weed. Both the quality and cost shot up in the next decade. Disclaimer: I don't smoke pot, so this is second hand smoke, so to speak. But, there were so many hippies around where I grew up that I literally thought patchouli was what people smelled like when then hadn't bathed in a week.

I'm pretty sure a lid was an ounce. A pound for $25 is too low, during the 70s. That's enough for a High schooler to smoke 1 1-gram joint everyday for 2 school calendar years on just a couple of days worth of lunch money.

$25 was a couple days worth of lunch money in the 70s?

Re: Why is a bag of weed always $10 (man)?

#70

Post by muhfuhkuh »

avar wrote: post #12
mortenjorck wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is cannabis routinely cut, as hard drugs are? I can't imagine it would be terribly hard to find similarly-burning vegetation to dilute the amount of product in a fixed-weight bag at a level undetectable to the average buyer.

No, that's one of its advantages. It's pretty much impossible to "cut" it. This is what a cannabis bud looks like: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Macro_cannabis_bud.jpg You can't just throw some similarly looking vegetation in there without the buyer noticing. You could throw in low-grade hemp, but that's just as hard to grow, so it's of no benefit to the dealer. One thing you can do is to not dry it. The moisture…

I've read that, in the UK, unscrupulous dealers have been spraying their dried bud with sugared water to add weight. They've also been selling something FAR more dangerous called "grit weed", which has been impregnated with glass dust or microbeads that resemble Cannabis terpines or "crystals" and also add considerable weight, but is basically fiberglass when inhaled.
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