http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/12/30/high-prices-f...
...but since marijuana is literally a weed, why wouldn't the price eventually drop to something like that of tea? I mean, tea is harder to grow, process, and ship, and you can get it for 6 dollars a pound. Even the overpriced teavana stuff can go for as little as 40 dollars a pound.
There's still a market for legitimately high grade tea (not Teavana). I'm interested to see what sort of market develops, over time, for legitimately high-grade MJ here in Colorado.
I just checked and I got a box of Bigelow from Food Lion (don't judge). Based on the net weight on the box, it's a little under $35/lb granted it is a small box so buying in bulk would definitely bring that down. So I can't imagine what $6/lb tea would taste like but I'm not sure I can justify $275/lb either.
This is my cheap-ass tea by the way: http://www.amazon.com/Bigelow-English-Teatime-Tea-20-Count/d...
Feel free to suggest something that might amount to a 2x-5x price increase rather than 10x.
I might have to try some of this!
Also, the Hacker's Guide to Tea is a great resource: http://www.worldoftea.org/hackers-guide-to-tea/
https://www.davidstea.com/store-locator
$20 for 250g (1lb) of earl grey tea, for example.
If you want to get into puer tea, a good way to do so is to order a few samples from their US site.
But for the time being, it will be expensive because of risk, ramp times, capital investment, etc.
Yes, but supposedly being able to control the water & nutrients is good for premium quality.
You're correct that ultimately marijuana will probably be really cheap, but we have to wait for the rest of the drug enforcement apparatus to become irrelevant.
The result of this is that while you can be doing something for which you cannot be charged by the state, the Federal government has the ability to prosecute you at their discretion. This is where the risk comes in; you are at the mercy of the federal government to continue deciding that they won't enforce the federal laws in those states.
Only two (or three, depending on how you view the legal status in Alaska) have laws that actually create a legal framework surrounding it (ie, "legalized it").
The situation in Colorado is analogous to The Netherlands explicitly declaring something allowed that the EU councils in Brussels have explicitly declared disallowed. One authority claims it's OK, the other claims it's not OK, and the citizen has to choose which authority they trust and/or fear more.
EU law binds countries, not people. If a country does something that goes against EU law (which happens all the freaking time), then you can sue the country in the EU courts to get the country to change the law. The EU isn't able to arrest you. And regardless, it's the national law is the only real law. EU law is just what a country is supposed to do.
[1] There is Europol (European Police Office) which is only for aiding cooperation between national police forces. It has no powers of arrest, and (most tellingly) it only has 800 staff for a population of half a billion people.
I believe it's evident that when you fly a bunch of groups under a single banner successfully for a long time, what starts as a loose, powerless alliance with only administrative activities (as the US was originally conceived) eventually becomes a very strong central power apparatus (as the US has now become).
Maybe it'll be different in Europe where the member states have so much independent history. Everything out here was basically a blank slate before it was annexed by the Union. In the relatively few places where this isn't true, there is much stronger anti-federal sentiment (the South, Hawaii). I guess New England is anomalous regarding anti-federal sentiments because I think it has always thought of itself as the most influential power in federal governance.
The situation in the Netherlands is more complicated. Technically it's still illegal, however it's effectively decriminalised for personal use. Small amounts found on you (less than 5 grams) will not be prosecuted. No more than 5 grams may be sold to one person in one transaction. You must be over 18. 'Coffee shops' should not cause any trouble, drugs may not be advertised and the mayor can order a 'coffee shop' to be shut down.
More recently (2012) these coffee shops have also been ordered to close their doors to foreigners, and there's a proposal to classify very potent (over 15% TCH) marijuana as hard drugs.
Things keep changing so who knows what will happen in the next few years.
And I don't think there is any EU law on illegal drugs like that.
However, expect the price to drop moderately as legal sales expand and small "mom & pop" grow operations are replaced by more efficient moderate sized operations that are willing to accept the risk and have the cash on hand needed to bootstrap.
It will, plus whatever extra for taxes and regulatory compliance. But it will be the same as with fruit, where what you see in stores are the A-grade products, and the B- and C-grade products get turned into food, beverages, industrial materials, etc.
"Medical marijuana" refers to pot sold in such as way as to shield the buyer and seller from criminal liability (by requiring a prescription from a health-care provider). No official or semi-official body is holding this medical marijuana to any standard.
Heading off a potential nit: in the last year or two a new strain of pot much lower in THC and much higher in CDB has arrived on the scene, and some doctors are advising some patients to use that strain, but as far as I know, no one refers to that as medical marijuana.
Actually, marijuana contains about 70 different cannabinoids. Different strains contain different ratios of these cannabinoids, and therefore different strains can be more (or less) effective for treating various ailments. Epileptics may require different strains from people suffering from chronic pain, for example.
For people who have very specific medical needs, it is very helpful to have access to specific strains so that they can consume less and still reap the benefits.
Also, calling the "medical" label a legal shield is bizarre. Medical cannabis is, as others commented, high-grade cannabis useful for treating serious conditions and helping cancer, AIDS, MS patients, etc.
I'm sorry but I don't think you are informed on this topic at all.
ADDED. You seem to have taken my comment as an attack on the ability of people with medical problems to get marajuana, but it was not meant that way -- and in fact, I'm for sick people's having that ability -- though I have not made a deep analysis of the issue (and there is a chance that such a deep analysis would change my mind).
I just do not like to see a word that has been used in one way -- by many journalists and commentators and by the general public -- used in a confusingly different way.