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nomadjames
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Plummeting Marijuana Prices Create A Panic In Calif.
#12568694 - 05/15/10 06:20 PM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=126806429
May 15, 2010
For decades, illegal marijuana cultivation has been an economic lifeblood for three counties in northern California known as the Emerald Triangle.
The war on drugs and frequent raids by federal drug agents have helped support the local economy — keeping prices for street sales of pot high and keeping profits rich.
But high times are changing. Legal pot, under the guise of the California's medical marijuana laws, has spurred a rush of new competition. As a result, the wholesale price of pot grown in these areas is plunging.
Demand Not Meeting Supply
In 1983, the Reagan administration launched a massive air and ground campaign to eradicate pot and lock up growers in northern California. Charley Custer, a writer and community activist, had just arrived to Humboldt County from Chicago. With the Reagan crackdown, Custer recalls, wholesale prices shot up — to as high as $5,000 a pound. That sudden and ironic windfall for those growers willing to risk prison time transformed the community.
What's happening is the people that don't have quality product aren't selling it. So they're the ones that are creating this panic. So it really comes back down to that, just like in every other agricultural industry. When you get too many vineyards and too many people growing vines out there, then only the good ones make it.
- Tim Blake, former underground grower who now cultivates medical marijuana
"A lot of people were living on welfare and peanut butter and banana sandwiches for a long time before pot made it possible to be part of the middle class," Custer says.
Nearly 30 years later, Custer says that boom may be over.
"Outdoor growers are having a hard time unloading their fall harvest," Custer says. "And this is six months later and when some people do move it, they don't get nearly the price they were hoping for."
That goes for both legal growers who cultivate limited quantities of pot under the medical marijuana laws and illegal operators who often grow larger amounts.
Prices are now much less than $2,000 a pound, according to interviews with more than a dozen growers and dealers. Mendocino County Sheriff Tom Allman says some growers can't get rid of their processed pot at any price.
"We arrested a man who had … 800 pounds of processed," Allman says. "Eight hundred pounds of processed. And we asked him: 'What are you going to do with 800 pounds of processed?' And he said, 'I don't know.'"
'Only The Good Ones Make It'
As recently as last December, things were still pretty upbeat. At Area 101, an events and healing center near Laytonville, local growers gathered to celebrate the Emerald Cup, an annual competition for the season's best pot buds. But the event's host, Tim Blake, says the mood has darkened since then.
"There's a tremendous amount of concern, borderlining on fear," says the former underground grower who now cultivates medical marijuana.
He says the drop in pot prices is in part the result of more growers and a more tolerant legal landscape. But he says another factor is quality. Indoor-grown marijuana is increasingly favored by dispensaries and consumers for its looks, consistence and potency. It costs more to produce than pot grown under the sun, but commands as much as double the price. That's one reason retail prices haven't hit the skids.
"What's happening is the people that don't have quality product aren't selling it," Blake says. "So they're the ones that are creating this panic. So it really comes back down to that, just like in every other agricultural industry. When you get too many vineyards and too many people growing vines out there, then only the good ones make it."
Matt Cohen is one of those growers who are making it. On an organic farm near Ukiah, Cohen raises chickens, grows vegetables and cultivates high-grade medical pot. He has avoided the downturn by distributing marijuana directly to patients. But other growers who rely on middlemen and dealers for legal and illegal sales are in financial trouble.
"And I know people, and they're living from credit card to credit card," Cohen says. "They're not even making money. It's just a lifestyle that they're in and the alternative is to go do what?"
Instability And Anxiety
In recent weeks the upheaval has spurred a series of unprecedented public forums about where things are headed for the marijuana industry, especially if Californians vote to legalize pot this fall.
"The displacement of persons deriving supplemental income through clipping, gardening and distribution of marijuana dwarfs the number of growers who will lose their income entirely," says local activist Anna Hamilton, who organized a gathering in Garberville. She says the broader community is already feeling the ripple effects of falling pot prices. Also By Michael Montgomery Read More About This On Californa Watch Blog
"There are business foreclosures, storefronts closing. There's a lot of instability and anxiety," she says.
Still, amid the turmoil, Custer says some locals haven't lost their sense of humor. He recalls a recent musical revue where three performers in miniskirts, sunglasses and spiky heels mocked the plight of local pot growers all to the beat of the '60s hit "My Boyfriend's Back."
"'My dealer's back and I'm gonna get ready/Hey now, hey now, my dealer's back,'" Custer sings. "It was a song of hope in this hopeless situation. 'It'll happen to you. Your dealer will come back.'"
Or maybe not. California's pot economy is transforming, and it's starting to resemble a real commodities market where only big players can compete. It's a shift that could leave some growers in the dust.
Produced as part of a collaboration between member station KQED and the Center for Investigative Reporting's California Watch.
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Believe
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Re: Plummeting Marijuana Prices Create A Panic In Calif. [Re: nomadjames]
#12568729 - 05/15/10 06:24 PM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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This is to be expected. I mean, what kind of dispensary or people going to them are going to want to buy pounds of midgrade schwag nugget when there's every kind of headie in the world being grown and sold in dispensaries. Either grow headies or expect to be phased out.
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AnonymousRabbit
Comrade
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Edited by AnonymousRabbit (05/18/22 06:21 PM)
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Lilith0Belial
Basic Mind
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Re: Plummeting Marijuana Prices Create A Panic In Calif. [Re: AnonymousRabbit]
#12568869 - 05/15/10 06:48 PM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
supernovasky said: So here's how this happens...
The growers in California cannot compete in Cali, so they're going to start exporting their product out east at a higher rate, much higher. Eventually this will diffuse across the country and all states will experience lower marijuana prices. I'm already seeing that in my local town, where 4 years ago, schwag was common place. Now all you can get is headies... insane.
I'm seeing similar in other towns over the last 4 years all around here.
This will make the war on drugs even harder to fight for the other side. It will drive consumption up as new smokers join up, seeing other people do it without very many negative consequences to their health, and also by making it more affordable.
California is directly going to be responsible for legalization of marijuana in this country.
Never though the whole economics game was gonna play a big role in it's eventual legalization.
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Le_Canard
The Duk Abides
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Loc: Earthfarm 1
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Re: Plummeting Marijuana Prices Create A Panic In Calif. [Re: AnonymousRabbit]
#12568918 - 05/15/10 06:54 PM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
supernovasky said: So here's how this happens...
The growers in California cannot compete in Cali, so they're going to start exporting their product out east at a higher rate, much higher. Eventually this will diffuse across the country and all states will experience lower marijuana prices. I'm already seeing that in my local town, where 4 years ago, schwag was common place. Now all you can get is headies... insane.
I'm seeing similar in other towns over the last 4 years all around here.
This will make the war on drugs even harder to fight for the other side. It will drive consumption up as new smokers join up, seeing other people do it without very many negative consequences to their health, and also by making it more affordable.
California is directly going to be responsible for legalization of marijuana in this country.
Hm, yes, that makes sense. This is good news indeed.
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Heffy
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Re: Plummeting Marijuana Prices Create A Panic In Calif. [Re: nomadjames]
#12569363 - 05/15/10 08:19 PM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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I can't believe all this bitching and moaning by the California growers/dealers when this situation has directly resulted from their actions, and will benefit basically everyone in the country except them.
Oh no I can't sell my pot for $4000 a pound anymore.
Ever heard of getting a job?
Fucking hippies.
-------------------- I am the king of Rome, and above grammar! - Emperor Sigismund
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orison
mcfluffysugarnuts
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Re: Plummeting Marijuana Prices Create A Panic In Calif. [Re: Heffy]
#12569394 - 05/15/10 08:24 PM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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I dont know what I pay for weed.. A bag a vermiculite was 5 dollars today ,, kinda need that, water bill was 17.00 kinda need that.. ;electric was 120.00 kinda need that.. $139.00 for a dime bag This sucks..;p
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Heffy
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Re: Plummeting Marijuana Prices Create A Panic In Calif. [Re: orison]
#12569574 - 05/15/10 08:53 PM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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Clear as mud.
You pay $120 for electricity what every......month?
-------------------- I am the king of Rome, and above grammar! - Emperor Sigismund
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AnastomosisJihad
Hominid
Registered: 01/01/08
Posts: 700
Loc: Ohio
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Re: Plummeting Marijuana Prices Create A Panic In Calif. [Re: Believe]
#12569711 - 05/15/10 09:19 PM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
Believe said: This is to be expected. I mean, what kind of dispensary or people going to them are going to want to buy pounds of midgrade schwag nugget when there's every kind of headie in the world being grown and sold in dispensaries. Either grow headies or expect to be phased out.
Synthetics are also taking market share away from bulk outdoor growers.
-------------------- come together
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blazenn
rawdog the whale.
Registered: 05/13/09
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Loc:
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Re: Plummeting Marijuana Prices Create A Panic In Calif. [Re: AnonymousRabbit]
#12570077 - 05/15/10 10:35 PM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
supernovasky said: So here's how this happens...
The growers in California cannot compete in Cali, so they're going to start exporting their product out east at a higher rate, much higher. Eventually this will diffuse across the country and all states will experience lower marijuana prices. I'm already seeing that in my local town, where 4 years ago, schwag was common place. Now all you can get is headies... insane.
I'm seeing similar in other towns over the last 4 years all around here.
This will make the war on drugs even harder to fight for the other side. It will drive consumption up as new smokers join up, seeing other people do it without very many negative consequences to their health, and also by making it more affordable.
California is directly going to be responsible for legalization of marijuana in this country.
not just california bruh, the whole west coast.
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Grok
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Re: Plummeting Marijuana Prices Create A Panic In Calif. [Re: blazenn]
#12570253 - 05/15/10 11:04 PM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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I wonder if we'll see some of these folks come out and speak against marijuana and legalization as they come out of the fog enough to realize that legalized mj will decimate their livelihoods. I know of several people who make good coin trimming and selling N. Cali product, their lives are pitifully easy...trim for a couple months, move some weight, and the rest of the year is more or less capitalized. Of course they take on substantial risk doing this. Nonetheless I won't be sad seeing them actually having to work.
-------------------- Entropy is increasing. To send me a PM, go to my journal
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HeiligBoomerz
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Re: Plummeting Marijuana Prices Create A Panic In Calif. [Re: Grok]
#12570508 - 05/15/10 11:49 PM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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What is processed pot?
-------------------- "The Edge... there is no honest way to explain it because the only people who really know where it is are the ones who have gone over."
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MHbound
Ballin Out At All Cost
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Re: Plummeting Marijuana Prices Create A Panic In Calif. [Re: HeiligBoomerz]
#12570558 - 05/15/10 11:58 PM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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there is too much many changing hands
the governments coming in
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Moronicus
smokehousebacon.
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Re: Plummeting Marijuana Prices Create A Panic In Calif. [Re: MHbound]
#12570593 - 05/16/10 12:04 AM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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The prices going down doesn't cause me to panic, it causes me to mellow out
-------------------- BACON RANCH, FUCK YEAH A post about m00nshine Anonymous #6 said: Yes, it is. The shine stands for his job title, which is Shoe Shiner, the moon stands for the time he comes out to be a nigger, which is best suited for the negroid camouflage.
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benitoamanito
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Re: Plummeting Marijuana Prices Create A Panic In Calif. [Re: nomadjames]
#12570687 - 05/16/10 12:21 AM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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come on now I mean...
Ehhh... w/e
but...
:-D thats what I'm talkin about
money dont mean much if you got a feild like.. you can trade with plenty of peeopls.
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Moronicus
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Re: Plummeting Marijuana Prices Create A Panic In Calif. [Re: benitoamanito]
#12570701 - 05/16/10 12:24 AM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
benitoamanito said: come on now I mean...
Ehhh... w/e
but...
:-D thats what I'm talkin about
money dont mean much if you got a feild like.. you can trade with plenty of peeopls.
Fuck, now that I think about it, maybe that's why the hash around my dispensaries has gone up.
Now I'm starting to panic
-------------------- BACON RANCH, FUCK YEAH A post about m00nshine Anonymous #6 said: Yes, it is. The shine stands for his job title, which is Shoe Shiner, the moon stands for the time he comes out to be a nigger, which is best suited for the negroid camouflage.
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blazenn
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Re: Plummeting Marijuana Prices Create A Panic In Calif. [Re: Moronicus]
#12571080 - 05/16/10 01:47 AM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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maybe if we ever see legalization we will see hash going for the prices herb goes for now, and weed will be as cheap as tobacco
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snoot
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Re: Plummeting Marijuana Prices Create A Panic In Calif. [Re: blazenn]
#12571404 - 05/16/10 03:27 AM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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and taxed to fuck, if its ever like tobacco itll be taxed to shit, who knows what will happen.
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orison
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Re: Plummeting Marijuana Prices Create A Panic In Calif. [Re: Heffy]
#12571493 - 05/16/10 04:10 AM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
Heffy said: Clear as mud.
You pay $120 for electricity what every......month?
yeah.. thats been my winter bill, easing up now a bit ..
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orison
mcfluffysugarnuts
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Re: Plummeting Marijuana Prices Create A Panic In Calif. [Re: snoot]
#12571503 - 05/16/10 04:13 AM (13 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
snoot said: and taxed to fuck, if its ever like tobacco itll be taxed to shit, who knows what will happen.
some asshole today was smoking tobacco near a gas pump playing fucking game. I was pissed but handled the situation well.. pttf and we cant use marijuana responsibly fuck this shit.. FUCK GASOLINE/OIL!!!! FUCK TOBACCO!!!
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