# Cost of Pot in Colorado **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 1, 2014, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-pot-in-colorado/677635 "2014-01-01T15:44:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-pot-in-colorado/677635/41 "2014-01-02T15:38:15Z")
> [@Meatros](#): > > So is 200 the going rate or is it considered cheap? Been 10 years since I smoked, but yes, that was cheap back then. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-pot-in-colorado/677635/42 "2014-01-02T17:02:10Z")
> [@Fear\_Itself](#): > > What do growers do with leaves these days? Hard to believe they just waste a good product just because it isn’t primo bud. Turn it into hash oil or bake it into edibles I would imagine. I see a fair amount of instructions on how to do it over on a particular message board. I would love to get my hands on some of the 5 foot plus tall main stems to try and rett them into fiber to spin, sort of my handspinner bucket list. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-pot-in-colorado/677635/43 "2014-01-02T17:07:47Z")
> [@Kobal2](#): > > Duuude. Chiiill. We’ll get to it. Like _puff_ _puff_ soon, you know ? I mean… hey, you got Doritos on you, dude ? Dave ain’t here man… 🙂 Back in the early sixties the price was $25.00 an _Ounce!_ We rolled it up in “Papes” and always passed it around. Hash was popular then also, and was my favorite smoke. Carl Sagan was an avid pot smoker, and he would be extremely happy (if he were alive today) to know grass was becoming legal. I wonder if hash is also legal in Colorado? ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-pot-in-colorado/677635/44 "2014-01-02T17:12:18Z")
> [@Jake](#): > > Dave ain’t here man… 🙂 > > Back in the early sixties the price was $25.00 an _Ounce!_ We rolled it up in “Papes” and always passed it around. Hash was popular then also, and was my favorite smoke. > Carl Sagan was an avid pot smoker, and he would be extremely happy (if he were alive today) to know grass was becoming legal. > **I wonder if hash is also legal in Colorado**? It is in Medical MJ stores. They have all kinds of stuff. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-pot-in-colorado/677635/45 "2014-01-02T19:32:20Z")
> [@Jake](#): > > Dave ain’t here man… 🙂 > > Back in the early sixties the price was $25.00 an _Ounce!_ Which, checking with 1962 as a baseline, $25 had as much buying power as $190 today, so pot has pretty much held steady with inflation. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-pot-in-colorado/677635/46 "2014-01-02T19:33:22Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > What’s a Red Card? It’s a ID card that proves you’ve got your physical and you are legally allowed to purchase medical MJ without the additional taxes. ---
**Author:** ![shiftless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9c0ed/32.png) [@shiftless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shiftless)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-pot-in-colorado/677635/47 "2014-01-02T19:48:42Z")
> [@Meatros](#): > > Wow, I’ve been out of the, uh, game for over a decade. Last I checked (late 90’s) it was 90-120 an ounce. > > So is 200 the going rate or is it considered cheap? I was just in Denver last week and saw despensory ads for $150 an OZ. These looked to be special deals if you switched you perscription for medical MJ to a new place. One of my kids was telling me he is going to renew his medical card because non-medical seems to be priced higher than the medical. ---
**Author:** ![Jake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f475e1/32.png) [@Jake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-pot-in-colorado/677635/48 "2014-01-02T19:57:25Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Which, checking with 1962 as a baseline, $25 had as much buying power as $190 today, so pot has pretty much held steady with inflation. Hm. Hadn’t thought of that! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-pot-in-colorado/677635/49 "2014-01-02T20:08:26Z")
> [@Jake](#): > > Hm. Hadn’t thought of that! 🙂 For some reason, people naturally remember how “cheap” everything was back in the day, but forget how much they made back then. The median annual family income in 1962 was $6000. For an individual, it was $2,800. [(Cite.](http://www2.census.gov/prod2/popscan/p60-040.pdf)) ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Wiggler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/red_wiggler/32/13190_2.png) [@Red\_Wiggler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Wiggler)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 8:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-pot-in-colorado/677635/50 "2014-01-02T20:27:59Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Which, checking with 1962 as a baseline, $25 had as much buying power as $190 today, so pot has pretty much held steady with inflation. Information for life! When pot was $15-30 an ounce, I was making about $2 per hour. I make almost twice that now! ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-pot-in-colorado/677635/51 "2014-01-02T23:01:09Z")
Boy am I glad I invested in Colorado Pizza Co. shares. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 11:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-pot-in-colorado/677635/52 "2014-01-02T23:26:38Z")
With the legalization of pot, I don’t see how they can hold prices at that level for very long. MJ is an agricultural product, like any other and it’s not that exceedingly difficult to grow. If you compare it to other agricultural products like tea, it should eventually reach some kind of equilibrium price of around $5 - $100 a lb or 30c - $6 an oz. That’s nearly a 100x decrease from current prices. Sure, taxes will add a little bit of premium over that but there’s no way pot prices aren’t going to fall by at least 10x over the next few years of legalization. ---
**Author:** ![Chimera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Chimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimera)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2014, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-pot-in-colorado/677635/53 "2014-01-02T23:27:59Z")
Hogwash. Are you paying 5 cents for a beer? ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-pot-in-colorado/677635/54 "2014-01-03T01:04:55Z")
> [@Shalmanese](#): > > With the legalization of pot, I don’t see how they can hold prices at that level for very long. MJ is an agricultural product, like any other and it’s not that exceedingly difficult to grow. If you compare it to other agricultural products like tea, it should eventually reach some kind of equilibrium price of around $5 - $100 a lb or 30c - $6 an oz. That’s nearly a 100x decrease from current prices. Sure, taxes will add a little bit of premium over that but there’s no way pot prices aren’t going to fall by at least 10x over the next few years of legalization. You can’t just grow ditchweed in the backyard and sell it in a retail store. The fixed expenses involved in growing legally can’t be made up with lower maintenance in the grow process or higher volume. It runs everything from background checks on employees to mandatory security systems to RFID tags on every plant to track it from greenhouse to retail location. You have to maintain very high margins to be competitive in the marijuana industry. ---
**Author:** ![Mangosteen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Mangosteen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangosteen)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-pot-in-colorado/677635/55 "2014-01-03T02:43:14Z")
> [@Meatros](#): > > Wow, I’ve been out of the, uh, game for over a decade. Last I checked (late 90’s) it was 90-120 an ounce. > > So is 200 the going rate or is it considered cheap? Early '70’s, we’d buy a _kilo_ (2.2 pounds) for $240. It wasn’t the greatest stuff, but it would give one a good buzz. Being in California about 50 miles north of the Mexican border probably helped keep the price down. ---
**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-pot-in-colorado/677635/56 "2014-01-03T08:59:57Z")
> [@Chimera](#): > > Hogwash. Are you paying 5 cents for a beer? I pay roughly 15 cents an ounce for beer ($1.80 for a 12oz can) and there is definitely crappy beer that gets down to 5 cents an ounce. The difference is it takes me 10s of ounces of beer to get drunk and fractions of an ounce of MJ to get high. Even if the same economic processes go into both, the difference in relative potency will be what drives the price. ---
**Author:** ![JustinC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/justinc/32/8083_2.png) [@JustinC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JustinC)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2014, 10:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-pot-in-colorado/677635/57 "2014-01-03T10:50:38Z")
> [@chinchalinchin](#): > > Ever dealt with a pot ‘street’ dealer? In my…friend’s experience, it’s hard to find a good one. They are either notoriously unreliable or the quality is somewhat lacking. I–my friend would pay those taxes just to be assured of quality and reliability. Also, convenience. In the words of Doug Stanhope, if you had to wait around in a parking lot until 1 am just to buy a six pack of beer, no one would drink. Likely fewer people would drink but where booze is forbidden it still creeps into the environment. In my friend’s experience, au naturel. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/cost-of-pot-in-colorado/677635.md?page=2)