# Price of Marijuana? Is my leg being pulled? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 20, 2004, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-marijuana-is-my-leg-being-pulled/280858 "2004-12-20T20:32:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 1:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-marijuana-is-my-leg-being-pulled/280858/21 "2004-12-21T01:24:34Z")
Here are US and Canadian street prices for various grades of marijuana from NORML (including BC bud) =http://www.420.com/ht/home/content.php?page=thmq\_0504&aid=&bid=&tt= ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-marijuana-is-my-leg-being-pulled/280858/22 "2004-12-21T02:08:14Z")
> [@audiobottle](#): > > The pricing of weed, though, is generally linear. So even if they picked the smallest amount, as long as it’s a realistic number, they should come up with a realistic end number. Untrue. As **Rex** mentioned, it’s the difference between retail and wholesale pricing. Think of it this way: whoever grows the weed is producing it by the pound, and it goes through many hands before it ends up in little 1-4 gram units for Joe Dimebag to buy. Every time it moves from one dealer’s hands to the next, the new dealer has to have some expectation that he can make a profit by dividing it up; otherwise, he wouldn’t be in the business. **Reloy3** , what’s your location? Pot from BC goes for around $40 an eighth around here (mere hours from BC), I believe, but it could conceivably be a lot more expensive in, say, Florida. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-marijuana-is-my-leg-being-pulled/280858/23 "2004-12-21T02:25:37Z")
> [@Mr2001](#): > > Untrue. As **Rex** mentioned, it’s the difference between retail and wholesale pricing. > > Think of it this way: whoever grows the weed is producing it by the pound, and it goes through many hands before it ends up in little 1-4 gram units for Joe Dimebag to buy. Every time it moves from one dealer’s hands to the next, the new dealer has to have some expectation that he can make a profit by dividing it up; otherwise, he wouldn’t be in the business. > > **Reloy3** , what’s your location? Pot from BC goes for around $40 an eighth around here (mere hours from BC), I believe, but it could conceivably be a lot more expensive in, say, Florida. So as a WAG lets say there’s 3 levels between 10 lb guy and dimebag guy who’s selling BC for $ 300 (average) an ounce, and (again strictly WAG) each level down approx doubles (or a bit less) the price. $300/oz on the street for BC bud to the customer $150/$200 oz to the street dealer $75/$100 oz to the mid-level supplier of the street dealer (your client) $75/ $100 x 16 oz x 10 lbs = $12,000/$16,000 worth of marijuana 150 ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-marijuana-is-my-leg-being-pulled/280858/24 "2004-12-21T02:56:44Z")
> [@](#): > > Here are US and Canadian street prices for various grades of marijuana from NORML (including BC bud) > > Trans High Market Quotes (THMQ) lists pot prices strains. Hmmn…Canadian Carpet Weed, $240? What the helll is that? Can I rip up my carpet and sell it for a fortune? It has just a hint of premium dog urine in it. ---
**Author:** ![audiobottle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@audiobottle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audiobottle)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-marijuana-is-my-leg-being-pulled/280858/25 "2004-12-21T03:29:03Z")
> [@Mr2001](#): > > Untrue. As **Rex** mentioned, it’s the difference between retail and wholesale pricing. What I meant when I said it was linear was that if you can buy a quarter for about $80, you can buy an eighth for $40, or an ounce for around $320. I didn’t mean linear from the guy who grows to the guy who sells it. Although, that again depends on whom you’re buying from. If it’s just a guy who grows for himself and some friends, the markup is almost non-existent. If it’s being grown “commercially” then obviously there’s the markup. But like many others have said, unless the weed was laced with something else (and that something else would still have to be pretty impressive), there’s no way any weed could go for that. Not even the so-called Government weed (which by the way, from what I could tell, was only a way to up the price on semi-decent to decent bud). ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-marijuana-is-my-leg-being-pulled/280858/26 "2004-12-21T03:44:37Z")
> [@audiobottle](#): > > What I meant when I said it was linear was that if you can buy a quarter for about $80, you can buy an eighth for $40, or an ounce for around $320. I don’t think that’s generally accurate, though. I know there are people who buy ounces (or less) and make a profit by dividing them up. Considering that an ounce is more to carry, legally riskier, and requires a bigger investment than an eighth, why would anyone buy an ounce for $320 if he could buy an eighth for $40 - unless the eighths in question actually weigh less than 1/8 ounce, which would make the price per ounce nonlinear? ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 4:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-marijuana-is-my-leg-being-pulled/280858/27 "2004-12-21T04:24:26Z")
> [@Mr2001](#): > > Considering that an ounce is more to carry, legally riskier, and requires a bigger investment than an eighth, why would anyone buy an ounce for $320 if he could buy an eighth for $40 - unless the eighths in question actually weigh less than 1/8 ounce, which would make the price per ounce nonlinear? Because buying by the eighth multiplies the number of illegal transactions by eight, not to mention the transportation issue of being in a car with an illegal substance eight times more often. Thus it is less risky to make a single transaction every couple months than one transaction every week. ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-marijuana-is-my-leg-being-pulled/280858/28 "2004-12-21T04:25:39Z")
> [@Sam Stone](#): > > It has just a hint of premium dog urine in it. Labrador? ---
**Author:** ![chukhung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e79b87/32.png) [@chukhung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chukhung)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-marijuana-is-my-leg-being-pulled/280858/29 "2004-12-21T04:26:27Z")
Newfoundland? ---
**Author:** ![NurseCarmen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/5daacb/32.png) [@NurseCarmen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NurseCarmen)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-marijuana-is-my-leg-being-pulled/280858/30 "2004-12-21T04:29:40Z")
> [@chukhung](#): > > Newfoundland? Obviously not a fan of Cheech and Chong. ---
**Author:** ![stockton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5a626/32.png) [@stockton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stockton)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-marijuana-is-my-leg-being-pulled/280858/31 "2004-12-21T04:39:58Z")
I’m very glad the OP is not my lawyer. If I were a client, I’d prefer that any issues and identifying facts about my (hypothetical non-existant) case were not cast out into the internet ether for advice. On a public message board. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-marijuana-is-my-leg-being-pulled/280858/32 "2004-12-21T04:48:25Z")
> [@NurseCarmen](#): > > Obviously not a fan of Cheech and Chong. Ya gonna eat all of that? ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 5:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-marijuana-is-my-leg-being-pulled/280858/33 "2004-12-21T05:49:44Z")
> [@Jurph](#): > > ARTIST > VENUE > DATE & SHOWTIME > (long list of weird items with names and phone numbers) > > e.g. > > N SYNC > LYRIC OPERA HOUSE, BALTIMORE > APRIL 3 7pm (Go on at 9:30) > Five black T-Shirts, Hanes cotton ribbed. 2xM, 3xL > Ten white T-shirts, Hanes cotton, smooth 4xM 6xL - > Aquafina water, 100 bottles > Camel + Marlboro > Twizzlers licorice, red (not cherry!) > TWIX > three vegetable platters with carrots but no celery > > Several pages didn’t have artist names, but did have things like > > “Maui Wowie” - 10 > > Panama (a little extra) > > 3X no names > > Would prefer tall (natural) redheads > > …and so on. It’s possible your client was selling to one of these. Slight hijack: This looks exactly like the notes I make in my little notebook to remind me of the contract rider demands of national artists. And big acts regularly demand things like 100 bottles of water, twizzlers, and drugs. I’ve had artists (well, their road manager, crew leader or label rep usually) request coke, weed, hash, specific types of alcohol, and I’ve had some pretty specific requests as to ‘name brand’ and quality of illicit substances. Part of the business. I’ve no doubt what you found there was notes of a concert promoter, or more likely his or her admin assistant. /hijack I think that $300-400 (tops!) is far more likely average price for an ounce of KB, name brand or not, BTW. ---
**Author:** ![Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rex_fenestrarum/32/7265_2.png) [@Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rex_Fenestrarum)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 5:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-marijuana-is-my-leg-being-pulled/280858/34 "2004-12-21T05:58:52Z")
> [@Mr2001](#): > > Considering that an ounce is more to carry, legally riskier, and requires a bigger investment than an eighth, why would anyone buy an ounce for $320 if he could buy an eighth for $40 - unless the eighths in question actually weigh less than 1/8 ounce, which would make the price per ounce nonlinear? 1. Because an eighth is usually 50% oregano and 50% seeds and stems. Ounces usually contain much more “bud” and the buds of the plant are the preferred smoke, not the leaves. 2. Because of #1, it’s often cheaper to buy an ounce of good weed than 8 eighths of the crappy weed that usually is the “half-quarter”. In a sense, it’s kind of like how you save more money by buying 1 roll of name-brand paper towels vs. three rolls of generic. Just as it’s not cheaper to use 4 store brand paper towels to pick up a spill instead of one Bounty towel, you get more miles out of a bag of nice weed than a cheap bag of schwag, even if it’s priced marginally higher than the schwag. 3. In most juristictions, the risk of carrying an ounce is the same as carrying an eighth. One ounce is usually the cut-off for misdemeanor possession, so if you have a leftover roach or 1 brand new ounce, it’s all the same, legally. Of course, you _could_ get busted by a cop that won’t bother taking you in for having a tiny amount of weed, but that’s more a function of human nature than the law. 4. “More to carry”?? If you’re so frail that you have difficulty carrying around 1 ounce of organic material, I’d think buying drugs is the _least_ of your problems. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 6:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-marijuana-is-my-leg-being-pulled/280858/35 "2004-12-21T06:16:17Z")
\ How much space does 10bs of pot take up? Are we talking a briefcase or two, or a trash bag? I’m trying to get a mental picture of the “risk” factor people mentioned - the former would be easier to keep unnoticable than the latter… ---
**Author:** ![EllisDee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellisdee/32/4531_2.png) [@EllisDee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EllisDee)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 6:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-marijuana-is-my-leg-being-pulled/280858/36 "2004-12-21T06:31:37Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > How much space does 10bs of pot take up? Are we talking a briefcase or two, or a trash bag? I’m trying to get a mental picture of the “risk” factor people mentioned - the former would be easier to keep unnoticable than the latter… Probably a medium or large sized gym bag would suffice. ---
**Author:** ![picker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/picker/32/13969_2.png) [@picker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/picker)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-marijuana-is-my-leg-being-pulled/280858/37 "2004-12-21T06:47:22Z")
A pound of schwag that was originally bricked up and then broken out for sale will fit into about a large ziploc freezer bag. Fresh KB would probably have at least double that volume or more as the buds tend to be lighter and fluffier. So ten pounds could easily fit in a medium suitcase, or an instrument case, but not likely an attache case, unless it was still bricked up. ---
**Author:** ![Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rex_fenestrarum/32/7265_2.png) [@Rex\_Fenestrarum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rex_Fenestrarum)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-marijuana-is-my-leg-being-pulled/280858/38 "2004-12-21T06:48:43Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > \ > > How much space does 10bs of pot take up? Are we talking a briefcase or two, or a trash bag? I’m trying to get a mental picture of the “risk” factor people mentioned - the former would be easier to keep unnoticable than the latter… I’m not entirely sure because - contrary to my earlier posts in this thread - I don’t know a lot about the “wholesale” end of the drug business. Having said that, many times marijuana is compressed into bricks for transport. I imagine that it would be pretty easy to compress 10 lbs. of weed into something you could carry in a briefcase. “Fresh” weed is sticky and it would be easy to compress it under pressure. If it’s _not_ compressed, then **Ellis Dee** is correct - just about any duffel bag would work. ---
**Author:** ![Ms2001](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ms2001/32/18463_2.png) [@Ms2001](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ms2001)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 7:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-marijuana-is-my-leg-being-pulled/280858/39 "2004-12-21T07:17:15Z")
> [@Rex Fenestrarum](#): > > 1. Because an eighth is usually 50% oregano and 50% seeds and stems. Ounces usually contain much more “bud” and the buds of the plant are the preferred smoke, not the leaves. According to [US Customs Today](http://www.customs.treas.gov/xp/CustomsToday/2002/January/custoday_imet.xml), and what I’ve heard, “BC Bud” doesn’t contain seeds or stems: > [@](#): > > Their product, BC Bud, is a hybrid that usually has a THC content well over 20 percent and is generally grown indoors. This marijuana has a wholesale value of approximately $3,000 per pound when it crosses the U.S. border and commands as much as $6,000 wholesale per pound in Southern California. Only the buds are sold, and it is never compacted so that the end user is assured of buying only the premium part of the plant - unlike the low potency marijuana crossing our southern border, which is adulterated with seeds and stems. By those figures, 10 pounds would only be worth $30,000. ---
**Author:** ![audiobottle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@audiobottle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audiobottle)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-marijuana-is-my-leg-being-pulled/280858/40 "2004-12-21T14:38:39Z")
No, no… good weed never has seeds (sensimilla) or stems and is always 100% bud, no oregano. It just doesn’t make good economic sense to include seeds, since then any enterprising feller could decide to grow on their own and screw buying from somebody else. And anybody can see stems in a baggie - nobody’s going to shell out good cash for a bag of weed with stems in it. As far as the linear thing goes, most people don’t buy an ounce at a time. The general college population (which I am most familiar with) buys an eight or a quarter, sometimes a half to split among several people. There is a small price break at the ounce level, but again it’s small. An ounce is a _lot_ of weed. If it’s serious killer bud, then you don’t need much to get high, so it lasts even longer. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-marijuana-is-my-leg-being-pulled/280858.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-marijuana-is-my-leg-being-pulled/280858.md?page=3)