We all know the war premium on oil. But what is the price premium on weed, cocaine, and the like? What cost does the war on drugs, security measures (by the traffickers), awkward distrubution and transportation, add to the price that some people pay their local dealers? If drugs were legalized, could all these premiums be turned to taxes and exemptions from medical coverage (and future lawsuits)?
What is the Price Premium On Illegal Drugs?
- Thread starter Dari
- Start date
The only street drug the US govt has been able to effectively raise the price on is pot. Big, bulky, hard to transport and easy to find.
We spend tens of billions fighting drugs from coming in, from being sold on the street, and keeping 70% of the prisons full of non violent drug offenders, you think it's working?
The #1 cash crop in this country alone is pot. Even if they just legalized that and heavily taxed it's sale they could probably wipe out ALL OTHER taxes. Perfect time to shift the tobacco comapnies and farmers over and ban those deathsticks.
Not too mention the 500 or so products you can make from hemp, including food for animals and people that grows anywhere virtually, and would replace almost every petroleum product including oil and gas, that might help explain what you were wondering about, why the petroleum industry was behind one of the first, largest, and most cash induced lobbying efforts in US history in having Marijuana made illegal in the early 1900's.
Prices right now....
I just moved from Cleveland, the price for a quarter ounce of weed there was @ $50, @$175 an ounce.
Down here in SC it is $100 an ounce but the quality SUCKS.
Both places the world class stuff goes for $100 a quarter ounce.
AFAIK coke is still $100 a gram, but I don't play with that stuff or anything harder.
We spend tens of billions fighting drugs from coming in, from being sold on the street, and keeping 70% of the prisons full of non violent drug offenders, you think it's working?
The #1 cash crop in this country alone is pot. Even if they just legalized that and heavily taxed it's sale they could probably wipe out ALL OTHER taxes. Perfect time to shift the tobacco comapnies and farmers over and ban those deathsticks.
Not too mention the 500 or so products you can make from hemp, including food for animals and people that grows anywhere virtually, and would replace almost every petroleum product including oil and gas, that might help explain what you were wondering about, why the petroleum industry was behind one of the first, largest, and most cash induced lobbying efforts in US history in having Marijuana made illegal in the early 1900's.
Prices right now....
I just moved from Cleveland, the price for a quarter ounce of weed there was @ $50, @$175 an ounce.
Down here in SC it is $100 an ounce but the quality SUCKS.
Both places the world class stuff goes for $100 a quarter ounce.
AFAIK coke is still $100 a gram, but I don't play with that stuff or anything harder.
have any idea how much it is to grow, produce, transport, and distribute pot before you add the premiums? BTW, how does hemp compete with petrolium/gas?
Hemp seeds have a very nice oil in them, superior lubricant and cleaner to burn than petroleum based products plus more uses that the petroluem companies have cornered the market on. You would get more ORGANIZED resistance to legalizing hemp than you would marijuana.
Pot can be grown virtaully anywhere, I have had some that was grown in desert conditions.
As far as cost to place a product on the market, about ten years ago I read a report that concluded a pack of cigarette joints (20) could be put on the shelf for less than one dollar in total costs. it's not too much to expect to be able to sell those for 20-25 bucks a pack, 24 dollars in tax per pack....
Pot can be grown virtaully anywhere, I have had some that was grown in desert conditions.
As far as cost to place a product on the market, about ten years ago I read a report that concluded a pack of cigarette joints (20) could be put on the shelf for less than one dollar in total costs. it's not too much to expect to be able to sell those for 20-25 bucks a pack, 24 dollars in tax per pack....
Marijuana gets you high, hemp does not.
Active ingredient is THC, hemp has MINIMAL levels, I mean you could smoke 5 pounds and not get a buzz.
Makes a better, stronger paper without the dirty chemicals needed today to process tree pulp into paper, a fabric resilient to saltwater and ten times stronger than cotton.
You know why Levi's have such a good name, they were made of hemp originally, one pair lasted 30+ years.
The US constitution is printed on hemp based paper, the ONLY reason it still exists.
The sails on Columbus's ships were made of hemp, otherwise he wouldn't not have made it here. All sails were made this way due to it's resistance to saltwater unlike most fabrics.
Active ingredient is THC, hemp has MINIMAL levels, I mean you could smoke 5 pounds and not get a buzz.
Makes a better, stronger paper without the dirty chemicals needed today to process tree pulp into paper, a fabric resilient to saltwater and ten times stronger than cotton.
You know why Levi's have such a good name, they were made of hemp originally, one pair lasted 30+ years.
The US constitution is printed on hemp based paper, the ONLY reason it still exists.
The sails on Columbus's ships were made of hemp, otherwise he wouldn't not have made it here. All sails were made this way due to it's resistance to saltwater unlike most fabrics.
They look very similar, it would be very easy to mix in a small illegal crop of drug quality Sativa in some harmless Hemp.
This happened during the period of prohibition, the mood and political climate were right for this attack on an up and coming competetive product who had a sister who also was used as a recreational drug.
Do you really think the people would have stood for a small group of companies trying to wipe out their competition with a product that would have benefitted everyone and eliminated their power and money base?
This happened during the period of prohibition, the mood and political climate were right for this attack on an up and coming competetive product who had a sister who also was used as a recreational drug.
Do you really think the people would have stood for a small group of companies trying to wipe out their competition with a product that would have benefitted everyone and eliminated their power and money base?
There were some social factors that contributed to marijuana legislation as well. A google search for "marijuana legislation" or similar should illustrate this for you.
If they legalized it and taxed the hell out of it, wouldn't people just turn to their current dealers if they undercut the government's prices on weed? I always wondered about that. I really don't have a position on this issue...yet.
I could tell you though that if I had kids it would be HELL NO keep it illegal. Thankfully I don't have any...yet.
I could tell you though that if I had kids it would be HELL NO keep it illegal. Thankfully I don't have any...yet.
Why is that exactly? Legal, or illegal they're going to be exposed to it and might try it. Look at alcohol now; it's illegal until you're 21 in the US yet most teenagers have tried it. The trick is to make sure your kids are well-informed about the drugs they may be exposed to so they can make good choices. I had plenty of pothead (and worse) friends growing up, but I just never really got into it and stayed way the hell away from anything I knew to be physically addictive (cocaine, etc).
I guess its the idea that legalization would INCREASE their exposure to it. Of course they'll be exposed to it, and they'll have to make a choice. But if I can make the amount of times they have to make that decision less, I would do it. I have no delusions that pot is the antichrist or something, I'd just assume they learn once and not have to deal with it as often. I think it would increase the chances for pot to have a negative effect on peoples lives because it would be readily available to the masses. Pot can have negative effects and people can have a dependency on it, just like alcohol, but if I could decrease the chances...then again I can see the benefits. Like I said...haven't quite decided.
You can't beat their price, no street level user is going to spend more for something that will get him tossed in jail when he can get the same thing legally 100 times cheaper.
Case in point, to buy enough to make 20 cig sized joints, probably $100 on the street.
They can make it for less than a buck.
They say they could make a synthetic non-addictive cocaine for about $1 a gram as well, 15 minute buzz then it's gone, you are "sober'
Case in point, to buy enough to make 20 cig sized joints, probably $100 on the street.
They can make it for less than a buck.
They say they could make a synthetic non-addictive cocaine for about $1 a gram as well, 15 minute buzz then it's gone, you are "sober'
My great grandpa grew hemp during WWII for the government...great material for ropes. There is still a huge bumper crop of it in the area, and morons still come off of Interstate 80 to pick it. I can't imagine the amount of agricultural chemicals that are in it...maybe they get buzzed off of those.
Siddhartha
Lifer
- Oct 17, 1999
- 12,505
- 3
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There are other savings to consider:
1. Reduced law enforcement, court, prison costs
2. Increased productivity of having people working and paying taxes instead of being in jail.
3. Reduced load on the medical infrastructure, fewer people injured or murdered.
As great as it would be to have marijuana legalized, or hemp even, I don't think it will happen anytime soon.
Nobody goes to a dealer to get "cheaper" cigarettes or alcohol, do they? Nope. When it is regulated by the government, the dealers go out of business.
Believe it or not, it's easier for a kid to get marijuana than it is for him to get alcohol. Shows you what a great job prohibition does, huh.
Cultural stigma? FUD campaigning over the past forty-fifty years in the United States? As a matter of fact, most countries around the world that had previously outlawed marijuana and other drugs as strictly as the US are repealing and lightening their laws:
Canada has legal, government-supplied medicinal marijuana. The RCMP, the Canadian Medican Association and the Canadian Chiefs of Police all support the decriminalization of marijuana possession/use.
Portugal decriminalized possesion of ALL drugs in 2001
Belgium decriminalized marijuana possession for personal use in 2001
Spain and Italy decriminalized possession of marijuana for personal use in the early 90's
the Netherlands decriminalized possession/use 25(!) years ago and have government-regulated "coffee" shops where you can buy/smoke, and the Dutch Office for Medical Cannabis supports pending legislation to provide pharmaceutical quality, government-provided (free, under their quasi-socialistic healthcare system) marijuana for medicinal use
Switzerland legalized marijuana in 2001. It is thought that she will be the first country in which commercial production and distribution of marijuana will be legal and government sanctioned/regulated/controlled.
Food for thought.
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