Had to make a little road trip. The first visit to a pot shop. It boggles the mind the variety of product. I got three vape cartridges, and an assortment of four 1/8s of flower. I’ve never vaped before, but I’ve read good things. 2 1/2 hour drive to get there, but it’s not like I’m going every day. This stash alone will last me months. Funny thing: as I was about to pay up, I jokingly asked if they took credit cards, and they do! Did the feds loosen something up?
I know! The first time I visited a dispensary, the term ‘like a kid in a candy store’ definitely came to mind. there were dozens of varieties of flower; gummies and chocolates and all manner of edibles- something that looked like rolled-out muticolored fruit by the foot. Not to mention all the vaping paraphernalia. It was Willie Wonka’s Weed Factory.
Good question. What state are you in? Here in Michigan, I believe you can pay by credit card only if you have a medical card; for recreational it’s cash-only.
This was Missouri. He didn’t qualify the credit card eligiblity.
Wow, I didn’t realize Mo. legalized it!
It’s a really new thing.
And if you go to one in WA, you’ll be amazed at how cheap it is! Cheaper than mid-80s blackmarket prices (that’s the earliest I know of prices). Pot is inflation proof! Who thought you could legally buy an ounce of bud for $50!
They took credit cars for a while but then stopped. They use an intermediate service now for medical patients (and drive up service too), nothing for recreational. All of them have ATMs onsite that I’ve seen.
How good is $50 an oz pot? That’s the lower price, right? Do they have a bunch of boutique shit?
“Top Shelf” is in the $120-160 range for an ounce. Still way less than in the 80s around here. I have no idea what a $30-50 ounce is like, but I’m guessing it is better than some of the skank-ass shit we bought back then. I never need to buy that amount. An eight lasts me plenty of time.
If you are curious, search for pot shops in Spokane, WA. They have their menus online.
One of the shops I go to here in SoCal offers a 10% discount for retired Law Enforcement - times have really changed
I’m sure the active LEO are pissed they don’t get it 
It’s better then the $35 1/8 oz brown brick weed we had in the 80’s.
Definitely better than the $10 / lid stuff available in the 70’s.
I had to drive my kid from Seattle back to LA in January, and of course we had to stop for weed in Weed, CA just to say we did. Man, did they have a MASSIVE selection. And I write that as one that has visited a couple of weed stores here in the Seattle Area.
We got chocolate peanut butter edibles that were pretty tasty.
Okay, I just went down something of a rabbit hole about the question of marijuana purchases with credit or debit cards. The original problem of the federal government not allowing banks and credit card companies to do business with cannabis companies is still there, although Sherrod Brown has promised that he will be bringing up the SAFE Banking Act again this year.
The shops here in New Mexico, since legalization of recreational sales, had been offering an odd kind of “ATM withdrawal” purchase that allows you to use your debit card with your PIN and the transaction would show up as an ATM withdrawal on your statement. They charged airport-level ATM fees, and they would round the transaction up to the nearest $10, giving you the difference in cash. Apparently, the processors of ATM transactions have largely closed the loophole that allowed these transactions. However, there’s a peer-to-peer network that uses blockchain technology to process credit card transactions for dispensaries so that banks don’t see where they came from. This is fascinating, and a teensy bit unsettling, because the last time I went to a shop, I forgot to take cash and just used my card without knowing anything about how the back end was working.
We still can’t use plastic in AZ, but all dispensaries have ATM’s in the lobby.
To the OP, I still get a bit of that kid on a candy store tingle every time I go into a dispensary.
I also love that I get an old fart discount on my weed. That just really turns my crank cause all of us old stoners who worked so long to get this going deserves 10% off.
Shit, I should have asked if they had that!
Dude, the first time a budista gave me that discount, the only thing stopping me from giving her a big ol stoner hug was the plexiglass between us.
I’m not one to ask for senior or vet discounts every where I go, but I sure do at the dispensaries just because it entertains me so much. I usually tip my budista 10% so it all works out in the end.
$120-160 an ounce? Here in NJ an 1/8 oz. is $65 at the legal store. As usual, the Garden State leads the way in high prices. All the people I know who smoke buy theirs on the black market. No idea what they pay but they say its much, much cheaper.
How much of that is tax? If they can’t forbid it, are the PTB trying to kill the dispensaries through tax?
Social Equity Excise Fee - $1.10/oz
Sales tax rate is 6.625%
Municipality controlled transfer tax of up to 2%
Municipalities can also charge a user tax on top of the transfer tax.
There are only two stores in the southern part of the state as of today. I saw a line of 10 or so people at one of them on a Saturday afternoon. My understanding is that they allow only a few people in the store at one time. Maybe its just a supply and demand thing right now but there was an article in the paper recently showing how NJ has much higher (no pun) prices than surrounding states.
Weed is readily available on the street. Why stand in line and pay the higher prices? I don’t buy the “you don’t know what you are getting” argument. I was a narcotics detective for most of my career and never once heard of bad (as in dangerous/laced) weed. PCP on joint? Rarely (usually, just put on a cigarette) but they knew what they were getting. People have/had steady suppliers and the market regulated itself. As far as I know, fentanyl has never been found in cannabis.