# 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:** 11\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![mazinger\_z](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@mazinger\_z](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mazinger_z)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-marijuana-is-my-leg-being-pulled/280858/41 "2004-12-21T17:51:12Z")
> [@Reloy3](#): > > Yes and no - that amount of Marijuana is remarkable, but not unheard of - I have about 1-2 cases a year between 1 and 10 pounds of pot. It does matter in two ways - 1) the quality of the pot and it’s “street value” can make a difference to a sentencing judge (and a jury if I can’t keep that information excluded) because it makes the client look like a bigger fish in the chain of distribution; and 2) (and more importantly) it makes a difference as to if the Feds may want to come in and poach the case. It has been a while since I worked any crim cases, and I was a clerk at that, but I did work a lot back when I was clerking…anyway, the point is that the street value really is only for show. Then again, all my crim cases were fed cases, and if I remember my sentencing guidelines correctly, the feds really only care about the amount of drugs (weight), and not the dollar value. I can’t imagine local laws being any different. As others have cited, the value of the drugs will change depending on where in the distribution chain it is located and the perceived quality. A more pertinent question for the OP (and not to start a great debate) is why does crack cocaine carry more criminal liability than powdered cocaine? ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-marijuana-is-my-leg-being-pulled/280858/42 "2004-12-21T17:57:10Z")
I think you’re all wrong. Cops like to make the biggest busts. Ever notice it’s always the volume by weight they use to impress you or the street value? It’s all about the numbers. Here’s how they do it, (I learned this from an RCMP officer, by the way), they extrapolate from the street price for a few joints. I know, even a burn out pot head knows that is some dodgey accounting, but I swear it’s true. They have a formula that says something akin to , on the street, 3 joints sell for 15 $ (sure we know only in pin ball parlours and under the stadium at junior high, but that’s not the point). They have also agreed on a number of joints per ounce figure. That’s why when you hear about big bud busts the dollar values are so very, very far off. Believe it or not they use precisely the same formula to calculate the value of any crop they seize, using as the base weight , the entire plant including stems, stocks etc. If bud were really as dear as these boneheads would lead everyone to believe, crikey, potheads would have to hold down jobs. Teenagers would have to take out loans. And your local dealer would be living large instead of in that dumpy apartment. If it were true. ---
**Author:** ![Fuji\_Kitakyusho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/f0a364/32.png) [@Fuji\_Kitakyusho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fuji_Kitakyusho)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-marijuana-is-my-leg-being-pulled/280858/43 "2004-12-21T18:22:39Z")
$540 / quarter pound. ---
**Author:** ![flickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7bcc69/32.png) [@flickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flickster)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-marijuana-is-my-leg-being-pulled/280858/44 "2004-12-21T18:35:03Z")
They priced me out of the market when an ounce started going for more than $45. ---
**Author:** ![Greathouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greathouse/32/2992_2.png) [@Greathouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Greathouse)\ **Post date:** [December 21, 2004, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-marijuana-is-my-leg-being-pulled/280858/45 "2004-12-21T18:58:08Z")
Around here a quarter goes for $20 and an ounce is $60. ---
**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, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-marijuana-is-my-leg-being-pulled/280858/46 "2004-12-21T19:40:34Z")
> [@Greathouse](#): > > Around here a quarter goes for $20 and an ounce is $60. That ratio sounds about as I remember it. And a half would still cost $40. The first break started at an ounce. All of this depended upon your relationship with the dealer, of course. ---
**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, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-marijuana-is-my-leg-being-pulled/280858/47 "2004-12-21T23:34:39Z")
> [@Greathouse](#): > > Around here a quarter goes for $20 and an ounce is $60. That sounds like the “low potency marijuana crossing our southern border”. $60 _might_ get you a quarter here, on a good day. $20 gets you slightly less than half an eighth. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2004, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-marijuana-is-my-leg-being-pulled/280858/48 "2004-12-22T00:20:55Z")
Several years ago, I once noted articles about 2 marijuana busts, in the same day’s issue of the local metro newspaper. They both gave “street value” for the marijuana that was seized. The prices given were significantly different; one was about 20 times the price of the other. So I called the paper’s ombudsman, and asked why the difference. The eventual answer I got was that the reporters had just used the “street value” given to them by the police involved. One was from a Federal DEA taskforce, and the other (much more realistic price) was from the local police force. He said both reporters had told him that the ‘street price’ placed on seized marijuana was usually ‘a joke’, and that it varied drastically based on who gave it, and how close it was to budget-setting time for their department. So I asked him why his paper published ‘facts’ that it’s own reporters regarded as ‘a joke’. He said they had to publish something, and it wasn’t like the Newspaper had a chart of the going street price for marijuana. I suggested that a quick check with the employees in their printing plant and delivery workers could get one. He didn’t appreciate the suggestion. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2004, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-marijuana-is-my-leg-being-pulled/280858/49 "2004-12-22T00:25:29Z")
> [@Mr2001](#): > > That sounds like the “low potency marijuana crossing our southern border”. $60 _might_ get you a quarter here, on a good day. $20 gets you slightly less than half an eighth. You guys still get your good stuff from Humbolt, in CA? What’s “less than half an eighth”? We didn’t much do that, or grams etc, back in the day. If you wanted anything that small, you went in with someone on an eighth. ---
**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 22, 2004, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-marijuana-is-my-leg-being-pulled/280858/50 "2004-12-22T01:25:21Z")
> [@mangeorge](#): > > You guys still get your good stuff from Humbolt, in CA? I’ve heard it comes from Seattle and BC. I’ve heard of people occasionally coming across bags full of leaves (“shake”) for $5 or so, but for the most part, there’s no such thing as “good stuff” or “bad stuff” around here. It’s all the same price, and almost always the same quality. If BC bud really is unusually potent, and all the stuff around here really is from BC, that could explain the difference in amounts sold. **Uncommon Sense** ’s remark “No-one buys an eighth” doesn’t seem true for anyone I’ve talked about this with; I’ve never heard of anyone buying _more_ than an eighth for personal use. > [@](#): > > What’s “less than half an eighth”? > We didn’t much do that, or grams etc, back in the day. If you wanted anything that small, you went in with someone on an eighth. The exact numbers vary, but a “dub” is usually about 1.7 grams. Pretty common around here. Sometimes it’s half an eighth, but the expectation is usually that an eighth will be a little heavier than two dubs. ---
**Author:** ![mangeorge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d78d45/32.png) [@mangeorge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mangeorge)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2004, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-marijuana-is-my-leg-being-pulled/280858/51 "2004-12-22T01:46:21Z")
Thanks, **Mr2001**. I’m collecting this info for my retirement in a couple years. 😉 _Just Kidding_, mods. (not really) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/price-of-marijuana-is-my-leg-being-pulled/280858.md?page=2)