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Legal Marijuana Isn’t the Boon Small Businesses Thought It Would Be

fivethirtyeight.com

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Re: Legal Marijuana Isn’t the Boon Small Businesses Thought It Would Be

#61

Post by teach »

pravda wrote: post #12

Holy guacamole those weed prices are off the scales! $7.50 a gram? Weed should cost about the same amount as catnip. I can buy 4 oz of catnip for $8 on eBay. That's over 100g, about 8 cents a gram.

Catnip and marijuana are different enough that I wouldn't expect them to cost the same.

However, I don't see why it wouldn't be similar to growing bittering hops like the ones used by beer homebrewers.

I can buy a pound of "Mosaic" hops -- 450 grams -- for $30 at my local homebrew supply store. That's less than 7 cents per gram....

Re: Legal Marijuana Isn’t the Boon Small Businesses Thought It Would Be

#62

Post by frankharv »

PhasmaFelis wrote: post #49
nitwit005 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There seems to be no shortage of prosecutions for people smuggling cigarettes, or avoiding the taxes.

I've literally never heard of a cigarette-smuggling prosecution. I don't doubt that it happens, but it's small-time. Given the option, it seems that most people would rather pay a bit more than creep around like criminals to get their fix.

Here in Virgnia they have police set up on the north side of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. Alot of contraband moves to NYC via US Highway 13 North and the police are pretty good at spotting smugglers. Coming out of the tunnel you are in a pinch spot and they use this area for recon. The tax on cigarettes in NYC is so high they smuggle from Virginia. Lot of guns move the same route and the NYC people keep complaining that we have weak enforcement.

Re: Legal Marijuana Isn’t the Boon Small Businesses Thought It Would Be

#63

Post by mikestew »

mynameisvlad wrote: post #35
mikestew wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Taxes on weed in CA are going to be very high, ~20%. This may drive black market sales. WA’s taxes are ungodly high for weed (EDIT: w/o looking it up, more than 20%, that’s for sure). Didn’t seem to slow down things much. A new store just opened closer to the house, and I don’t know of a single store that has closed. Personally, I’m more than willing to pay the “convenience fee” to just drive down the road any time I…

Have a Heart? Their online ordering is the best, and they do essentially a constant 10% off discount if you sign up for their membership (every time you order you get a discount based on your purchase amount you can apply on your next order. I believe it's roughly equivalent to $1 for every $10 purchased.) I switched from Uncle Ike's and never looked back. The only pro I see for the line is that the staff can help yo…

Have a Heart? Their online ordering is the best

I’m actually over in Redmond. Choices are a little slimmer in the ‘burbs, I notice. :-) No matter, I’ve pretty much settled on what I want, so I go to the one closer, waltz in and get it, go home. When I walk and they say, “the usual, mikestew?”, then I’ll know I need to dial back. :-)

Re: Legal Marijuana Isn’t the Boon Small Businesses Thought It Would Be

#64

Post by Synaesthesia »

mythrwy wrote: post #48
Animats wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe it's a plot to make the lower classes more passive so they don't revolt. I've been amazed to see the GOP reverse course on this.

Plenty of Democrats have "reversed course" as well. I think Hillary was against legalizing the herb wasn't she? Did she ever reverse position? Politicians are just politicians for the most part. Whatever they think will get them in office.

She’s always been against legalization. Still is AFAIK.

Re: Legal Marijuana Isn’t the Boon Small Businesses Thought It Would Be

#66

Post by topshelfdata »

Hi folks, I'm one of the founders of https://www.topshelfdata.com, the site that provided most of the data used in the article.

Let me know if you have any questions related to the data that I can answer (it may take a few hours since I am about to hit the sack).

Related: here's our Show HN post that was on the front page of HN earlier this year. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13767772

Re: Legal Marijuana Isn’t the Boon Small Businesses Thought It Would Be

#67

Post by topshelfdata »

wils1245 wrote: post #3

Two things of interest that the article doesn’t go into: - Taxes on weed in CA are going to be very high, ~20%. This may drive black market sales. - Online ordering through Eaze is popular, which might drive the familiar winner take all online commerce market dynamic. A lot of people don’t care for the dispensary experience. At the end of the day, this is an agricultural product, and a commodity. It was optimisticall…

Excise taxes in Washington state on weed are 37%, much higher than the ~20% you suggest for CA.

https://lcb.wa.gov/mj2015/faqs-on-taxes

https://dor.wa.gov/find-taxes-rates/taxes-due-marijuana

Re: Legal Marijuana Isn’t the Boon Small Businesses Thought It Would Be

#68

Post by wolco »

danenania wrote: post #59
delbel wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

THC inhibits the GABA neurotransmitter. GABA is responsible for the "calmness" factor in the brain. Low levels of GABA cause anxiety, paranoia, etc. Certain strains have different terpenes profiles. Terepenes are responsible for the aroma of the flower. Some terpenes change the way THC is absorbed, including preventing the inhibition of the THC GABA effect, which is why terpenes are also responsible for the aromather…

That's really interesting. Do you know of any sources that list these sorts of properties for strains (and that are reliable/empirical)? I presume the tags on sites like Leafly that mark a strain 'calming' or 'good for depression' are anecdotal and not based in chemistry?

I think you need to go deeper because each batch can give a different profile so the strains only provide a guideline.

What you could do is map the smell to the terpene profile.

http://maryjanesdiary.com/terpenes/

Re: Legal Marijuana Isn’t the Boon Small Businesses Thought It Would Be

#69

Post by jsz0 »

yodsanklai wrote: post #31
AndrewUnmuted wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Some heavy users care about certain strains and the like, but I have a feeling that for most people weed is weed. As recently as 5-6 years ago, I would have agreed with this sentiment. These days, however I think this mentality is no longer a responsible one to propagate. Today's cannabis is, in general, much more potent than it used to be. And now there are ways to consume very large amounts of this extremely pote…

> Today's cannabis is, in general, much more potent than it used to be. I hear that a lot (especially from anti-legalization people), but I don't believe it makes any difference. What makes a difference to the consumer is the amount of cannabinoids consumed, not the concentration in a given amount of weed. The typical weed consumption experience is to vaporize/smoke/eat some small amount, and reiterate until satisfac…

> Once the sweet spot is reached the experience becomes less enjoyable

Not much different than alcohol in that respect. Some people abuse high dosages but most don't because it's usually an unpleasant experience. The problem with marijuana specifically is the advocacy/culture that celebrates over indulgence in a way we haven't seen since the glory days of 'Mad Men' style alcoholism.

Re: Legal Marijuana Isn’t the Boon Small Businesses Thought It Would Be

#70

Post by sporkologist »

pravda wrote: post #12

Holy guacamole those weed prices are off the scales! $7.50 a gram? Weed should cost about the same amount as catnip. I can buy 4 oz of catnip for $8 on eBay. That's over 100g, about 8 cents a gram.

Weed "should" be mandatory for every citizen, supplied free from the Government.
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