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geokills
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As US Marijuana Legalization Spreads, Mexican 'Mota' Takes a Dive 2
#21247738 - 02/09/15 11:11 AM (9 years, 3 months ago) |
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As US marijuana legalization spreads, Mexican 'mota' takes a dive Source: http://www.cnbc.com/id/102409348 Ioan Grillo / globalpost
As President Barack Obama trumpets that the United States economy is back on track, industry groups are shouting over who's growing faster.
The accounting sector boasted 2014 growth of 11 percent; computer systems of 14 percent; and real estate of a whopping 23 percent, says financial information group Sageworks.
However, one industry may have beaten those hands down: legal marijuana.
According to a new report by The ArcView Group, a cannabis industry investment and research firm based in California, legal marijuana sales rocketed 74 percent in 2014 to a new high of $2.7 billion. And with more states legalizing weed — Alaska, Oregon and Washington, DC, voted to join the legal stoners in November — it predicts this growth pace could continue for several more years straight.
However, winners in some places often mean losers in others. And the losers appear to be south of the Rio Grande: Mexican marijuana growers, who've provided the lion's share of cannabis for American smokers for decades.
In 2014, the US Border Patrol saw a plunge in seizures of pot heading northward. Its agents nabbed 1.9 million pounds of ganja, a 24 percent reduction compared with the 2.5 million seized in 2011 — before Colorado and Washington State first voted to legalize recreational marijuana.
Capturing less drugs doesn't necessarily mean less drugs are coming over. Agents could be working less or focusing more on other problems. Yet one sign they are as vigilant as ever is that they made increased seizures of some other drugs, especially crystal meth, which was busted in record quantities.
Mexican security forces have also noted a dive in marijuana production. In the most recent figures released in September, the Mexican government said that it had seized 971 metric tons (1,070 US tons) of cannabis inside Mexico in 2013, the lowest amount since 2000.
"In the long run, it looks like the US market for illegal Mexican marijuana will keep shrinking," says Alejandro Hope, a drug expert in Mexico. "The logic of the legal marijuana market is that it will force prices down. This would take out the big profits from the illegal market. A good way to make some money could be to short the prices of marijuana."
As well as price problems, Mexican producers also have to compete with quality.
The legal US suppliers focus on high-grade weed, selling brands with glamorous names like "Skunk Red Hair," "Sky Dog" and "Super Haze" in the S section of the shelves, to "Hypno," "Hindu Kush" and "Himalayan Gold" if you look under H.
They are often labeled with their exact amount of THC, the ingredient that gets you intoxicated. They are also graded for their mix of indica, the strain that makes users stoned in a more knockout way, and sativa, which hits people in a more psychedelic way.
On the other hand, Mexican marijuana, known here as "mota," is a mass-produced lower-grade crop, grown mostly outdoors in the mountains. It doesn't have a fancy brand name, or tell you how spaced out or sleepy you will feel; it will just get you wasted.
Hitting the cartels
When advocates campaigned to legalize weed in Colorado and Washington states in 2012, they argued it was better to take the cash away from Mexican cartels and put it into taxes.
Former President Vicente Fox also made this case after leaving office when he visited a university in Boulder, Colo., in 2011.
"The drug consumer in the US yields billions of dollars, money that goes back to Mexico to bribe police and money that buys guns," Fox said. "So when you question yourselves [sic] about what is going on in Mexico, it depends very much on what happens in this nation."
If Mexican marijuana is now sinking, it could indeed be reducing cartels' budgets to commit mass murder. Mexico's total homicides have gone down during the time that some US states legalized grass. Killings reached a peak in 2011 of 22,852, and then dropped to 15,649 last year, according to the Mexican government's numbers.
However, other aspects could have played a role, too. Among them are the capture or killing of some of the most brutal drug lords, including Heriberto "The Executioner" Lazcano, the head of the Zetas cartel whom Mexican marines gunned down in 2012.
Mexican gangs also have a range of other businesses. Not only do they traffic crystal meth, heroin and cocaine, they have also diversified into crimes from sex trafficking to illegal iron mining.
Mexican meth and heroin appear to have gone up as marijuana has dropped — at least, if narcotics seizures are the gauge. Last year, the US seized a record 34,840 pounds of methamphetamine at the Mexican border.
Still, longtime experts in illegal markets say there may not be any correlation between the hikes in some drugs and dives in others.
"There are lots of variables at play here, complicated factors of both demand and supply that create the markets in these drugs," says Sanho Tree, director of the Drug Policy Project at Washington's Institute of Policy Studies.
"One reason for the rise in heroin use is that many doctors have over-prescribed opiate drugs to patients," he adds, referring to legal pain treatments. "The patients have got hooked and have later turned to the illegal heroin."
But there's another factor that could seriously affect marijuana market trends: Mexico could itself legalize it. In 2009, the country decriminalized the possession of small amounts of drugs, including marijuana. And citizens here as elsewhere were amazed when Uruguay became the first entire country to legalize weed in 2013.
Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto has spoken against legalization but says he's open to debate.
Former President Fox is an advocate and even said he would like to team up with an American entrepreneur to import it to the United States.
If Mexico did legalize the plant, its cheaper labor costs could give it an edge over US producers. And while some consumers could want the higher-grade California strains, others could still choose the cheapest price.
"Cannabis is not unlike wine," Tree says. "I can buy a $200 bottle of wine, if that is what I am after. But many people will prefer the cheaper, mass-market product. And if all the prohibition factors are taken out, then marijuana is really just an herb that can be produced very cheaply."
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Supachopped719
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Re: As US Marijuana Legalization Spreads, Mexican 'Mota' Takes a Dive [Re: geokills] 2
#21248028 - 02/09/15 12:25 PM (9 years, 3 months ago) |
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Maybe if the growers over in Mexico spent some time with their plants and like weeded out the males and like trimmed the buds instead of stuffing an entire plant stalk and leaves and all inside of a brick former to be sold as is, they would be able to compete.
Mexican weed sucks. It's all we could get when I was a kid. I got a quarter once with grams worth of seeds inside the square like chunk. We were growing better weed from those seeds and we could barely bust a nut yet.
They have no one to blame but there own shitty green thumbs.
-------------------- Real Eyes Realize Real Lies.
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zZZz
jesus


Registered: 12/28/07
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Re: As US Marijuana Legalization Spreads, Mexican 'Mota' Takes a Dive [Re: geokills]
#21248195 - 02/09/15 12:59 PM (9 years, 3 months ago) |
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It's been shirking since the first medicinal laws went into effect.
I miss that marijuana tho, maybe it was the fact that it was brought all the way from Mexico on people's backs n shit that made it so good,.
I don't care what peeps say about Mexican weed, I'll get it any day of the week.
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misterogerz


Registered: 06/07/02
Posts: 1,433
Loc: Gulf Coast
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Re: As US Marijuana Legalization Spreads, Mexican 'Mota' Takes a Dive [Re: zZZz]
#21248283 - 02/09/15 01:12 PM (9 years, 3 months ago) |
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Supachopped719 said: Maybe if the growers over in Mexico spent some time with their plants and like weeded out the males and like trimmed the buds instead of stuffing an entire plant stalk and leaves and all inside of a brick former to be sold as is, they would be able to compete.
Mexican weed sucks. It's all we could get when I was a kid. I got a quarter once with grams worth of seeds inside the square like chunk. We were growing better weed from those seeds and we could barely bust a nut yet.
They have no one to blame but there own shitty green thumbs.
Quote:
zZZz said: It's been shirking since the first medicinal laws went into effect.
I miss that marijuana tho, maybe it was the fact that it was brought all the way from Mexico on people's backs n shit that made it so good,.
I don't care what peeps say about Mexican weed, I'll get it any day of the week.
Quality is shit because it's illegal and they can't really afford to take the time and space for large drying barns, and they have to brick it to ship it. It's possible that after legalization there will still be an import market for tropical sativas and stuff like they ship in bananas and avocados and shit. If allowed to do so they can ship trucks of uncompressed, properly dried herb. It's the legality though
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Supachopped719
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Re: As US Marijuana Legalization Spreads, Mexican 'Mota' Takes a Dive [Re: misterogerz] 1
#21248587 - 02/09/15 02:00 PM (9 years, 3 months ago) |
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It's been pretty illegal here in America and we have no problem growing mass amounts.
From my understanding with cash you can get away with pretty much anything in Mexico. They should have stepped up their game. Just a quick trim so we didn't get giant sticks and entire fan leaves in our bricks.
It wasn't even the fact the brick were compressed. They were compressed shit.
-------------------- Real Eyes Realize Real Lies.
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misterogerz


Registered: 06/07/02
Posts: 1,433
Loc: Gulf Coast
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Re: As US Marijuana Legalization Spreads, Mexican 'Mota' Takes a Dive [Re: Supachopped719]
#21248654 - 02/09/15 02:11 PM (9 years, 3 months ago) |
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When you gotta smuggle in plants, if they arent dried enough they will ferment and even rot, also they gotta get seed somewhere and probably kept the prime cuts themselves. Like I said, if it were like the banana republics America started so they can have fruit and rum and shit, the market would be different. A simple barn, trim, dry, and boxed up in hemp boxes or whatever and legally shipped would make a difference.
Edited by misterogerz (02/09/15 05:48 PM)
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marbletulip
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Registered: 04/13/06
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Re: As US Marijuana Legalization Spreads, Mexican 'Mota' Takes a Dive [Re: misterogerz]
#21248998 - 02/09/15 03:10 PM (9 years, 3 months ago) |
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I was recently down in Puerto Vallarta mexico and i can say their mota wasnt the same crap i got in high school twenty years ago. Zero seeds stems fine. I believe growers are very aware of the need to produce quality mota.
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Supachopped719
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Re: As US Marijuana Legalization Spreads, Mexican 'Mota' Takes a Dive [Re: marbletulip]
#21249264 - 02/09/15 04:06 PM (9 years, 3 months ago) |
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marbletulip said: I was recently down in Puerto Vallarta mexico and i can say their mota wasnt the same crap i got in high school twenty years ago. Zero seeds stems fine. I believe growers are very aware of the need to produce quality mota.
I have heard this as well, that their quality has gotten better. I honestly would be surprised If it didn't.
It's hard to smuggle quality buds and make money while not compacting them into bricks, they should make tons of hash from their massive crops. That would solve the problem of all the seeds and stems.
When they say weed today is way too strong, it's because they compare it to that shwagg.
-------------------- Real Eyes Realize Real Lies.
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niteman
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Re: As US Marijuana Legalization Spreads, Mexican 'Mota' Takes a Dive [Re: Supachopped719]
#21252619 - 02/10/15 10:00 AM (9 years, 3 months ago) |
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There is also a huge price difference between high grade bud and regular. I can get an ounce of reggie where I live for 50 bucks but an ounce of good good costs 300. So I am paying 6 times as much for weed that is MAYBE 3 times as potent. Maybe most folks can overlook that but as much as I love good bud it is a ripoff to me. I have friends that can get good bud for 10 a gram and they still buy reggie instead because you can smoke a lot more on a half ounce than you can on a couple of grams
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Seriously_trippin
Cosmic Guru Ganesh



Registered: 07/12/13
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Re: As US Marijuana Legalization Spreads, Mexican 'Mota' Takes a Dive [Re: geokills] 1
#21253814 - 02/10/15 03:17 PM (9 years, 3 months ago) |
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This is a fine point that with the limited amount of states with legal marijuana it ALREADY has taken a toll on the cartels and drug runners as expected. This clearly shows the more we legalize the less business for gangs and cartels
-------------------- R.I.P Zombi3, Blue Helix Modest Mouse Zappa, Jellyfish Slothie That Kid With The face ShLong Le Canard split_by_nine & Big Worm Forever Etched in the sands of time in the shroomery and ever so beloved and deeply missed by many
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ShroomBound
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Re: As US Marijuana Legalization Spreads, Mexican 'Mota' Takes a Dive [Re: niteman]
#21253839 - 02/10/15 03:24 PM (9 years, 3 months ago) |
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well they only grow Ruderelis, very low THC, and it's probably not very clean either, those people just see is a drug, something to move and make money off, people in america have been spending time with their plants, tapping into the genetics, and producing medicine. Cannabis isn't a drug and shouldn't be treated like one.
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Seriously_trippin
Cosmic Guru Ganesh



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Re: As US Marijuana Legalization Spreads, Mexican 'Mota' Takes a Dive [Re: ShroomBound]
#21253889 - 02/10/15 03:38 PM (9 years, 3 months ago) |
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They do not grow only rudereils , idk where you heard that, maybe 15 20 years ago they did but in recent years they've gotten to comparable quality as an average kush. The quality isn't why they're losing business(even though it is part of it). People can get it legally now, why would you want to deal with bloodthristy cartel members whith average weed? It's a no brainer
-------------------- R.I.P Zombi3, Blue Helix Modest Mouse Zappa, Jellyfish Slothie That Kid With The face ShLong Le Canard split_by_nine & Big Worm Forever Etched in the sands of time in the shroomery and ever so beloved and deeply missed by many
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Alan Rockefeller
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Re: As US Marijuana Legalization Spreads, Mexican 'Mota' Takes a Dive [Re: Supachopped719]
#21254465 - 02/10/15 05:38 PM (9 years, 3 months ago) |
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Quote:
Supachopped719 said: Maybe if the growers over in Mexico spent some time with their plants and like weeded out the males and like trimmed the buds instead of stuffing an entire plant stalk and leaves and all inside of a brick former to be sold as is, they would be able to compete.
There are other factors - The rainy season in Mexico coincides with the Cannabis harvest season, which causes a lot of problems with mold.
The economic realities of smuggling also are a big factor - it needs to be very compressed to make much profit.
It's also grown in huge fields, which makes it difficult to remove the males.
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niteman
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Re: As US Marijuana Legalization Spreads, Mexican 'Mota' Takes a Dive [Re: ShroomBound]
#21263502 - 02/12/15 11:52 AM (9 years, 3 months ago) |
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ShroomBound said: well they only grow Ruderelis
Lol what?!? If anything Ruderalis is much more popular to crossbreed for its "autoflowering" characteristics. Mexican bud would be mostly sativa I think but I'm no expert. You made me laugh for today so thank you.
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