Cannabis News

[macbill]

Weed’s next frontier is in Asia

Asia is beginning to warm up to the use of cannabis. Thailand legalised marijuana cultivation at home in 2022, while South Korea, Japan and Malaysia are paving the way for pharmaceutical applications. With the weed market estimated to be a $100 billion industry by 2026, according to research...

www.reuters.com

 

[darkstar72]

@macbill Thanks for posting links to interesting articles on cannabis news.

 

[florduh]

Police raid hospital room of terminally-ill Kansas patient for medical marijuana use

A terminally-ill Kansas man’s hospital room was raided by cops because he used a weed vape and THC paste to ease the symptoms of the cancer that will kill him within weeks.

fox2now.com

Cops in America are utterly useless pussies.

 

[darkstar72]

Yeah, low hanging fruit to meet year end arrest quotas for the police department. Getting one arrest statistic for arresting an organized crime boss or other true criminal takes time and entails risk. But an arrest for a victimless crime like cannabis possession is still one arrest statistically and easy (think of a drug sniffing dog on a high school drug raid - easy). Getting the arrest numbers up to reach a "sales" target is likely how police budgets grow and careers advance. Makes me think of who in the cannabis business during prohibition has profited the most. Could it be it's the politicians, police, lawyers, and prison guards? Possibly. What an evil joke though - so messed up.

 

[JBone65]

This simple local news video points out the incredible difference between a sickly, contrived market and a free, open, competitive market.

2000+ dispensaries, most of which are locally owned, competing fiercely and making good money year after year, even with low weed prices. Minimal black market activity here.

I used to be "a conservative", back when it seemed to mean something. Although I vote blue these days, still believe in simple freedom and free enterprise, when/where appropriate, of course.

The video from the LA Times posted a couple of days ago shows that California growers and sellers want Oklahoma style freedoms.

Don't let politicians sell your state's weed concession to line their pockets. Don't agree to pay thru the nose for a cheap commodity.

Give me liberty or give me death, yada, yada, yada....!!!

 

[Madtater]

I can see both sides of this incident, as i work in

The video from the LA Times Don't let politicians sell your state's weed concession to line their pockets. Don't agree to pay thru the nose for a cheap commodity.

You act as if we the people have a choice….

It doesnt matter what side of the aisle you’re on or how each one of us vote, the problem with this country and the root of ALL our problems begins and ends with politicians lining their pockets.

Our governor’s (lamont D-CT) salary is $266,000.00 a year. Ok, that is deserved. What did he earn last year? $56,000,000.00. I am still waiting for someone to explain that one to me.

 

[florduh]

Our governor’s (lamont D-CT) salary is $266,000.00 a year. Ok, that is deserved. What did he earn last year? $56,000,000.00. I am still waiting for someone to explain that one to me.

He comes from a long line of bankers. His grandaddy was the CEO of Jp Morgan. Big JB Pritzker of Illinois is literally a billionaire. And these guys are from the "left wing" and "pro-labor" party, LOL. It's a big club, and we ain't in it.

the root of ALL our problems begins and ends with politicians lining their pockets.

The only problem I have with this is it makes it sound like the wealthy corpo elite are innocents minding their own business. They don't want to bribe and buy government officials to write every rule to benefit them and fuck over normal people. It's those dirty politicians tempting them that's the problem.

In reality, the pol's are just minor functionaries and bureaucrats in the grand scheme of things. They're simply doing the bidding of the real rulers of this country.

I agree we should do everything possible to get money out of politics. I say, publicly fund elections. Whatever that costs is chump change compared to having a government that solely serves billionaires and millionaires. Plus, do we really need a full fuckin year of obnoxious election TV commercials and junk mail?

 

[JBone65]

You act as if we the people have a choice….

I feel for everyone living in a contrived market. It's dumb luck that I happen to be where the market is healthy.

At least everyone should recognize when they're being "chingaled".

IMO no one should feel lucky to be allowed to buy weed at an elevated price, no one should accept $20-$40/g prices any longer than it takes to find another way.

There's always gonna be rich people and lobbyists. That doesn't mean it's okay for a politician to subvert capitalism and give away the farm to anyone or any entity. They can be exposed and prosecuted.

 

[Madtater]

I feel for everyone living in a contrived market. It's dumb luck that I happen to be where the market is healthy. Being here and seeing it function, and heading so many traffic stories, makes me wanna spread the word.

At least everyone should recognize when they're being "chingaled".

IMO no one should feel lucky to be allowed to buy weed at an elevated price, no one should accept $20-$40/g prices any longer than it takes to find another way.

There's always gonna be rich people and lobbyists. That doesn't mean it's okay for a politician to subvert capitalism and give away the farm to anyone or any entity. They can be exposed and prosecuted.

It will only last for so long here in CT. I am just waiting for it to be legal to grow, then i will be growing 3-6 plants of my own stuff.

Not gonna pay the tax or inflated prices any longer than i have to.

“exposed and prosecuted”? Politicians? Haha…..thats a good one.

 

[darkstar72]

@Mattater Hell yeah, grow your own! I read roughly half the tomatoes eaten in this country are home grown. Fresh backyard tomatoes are of course typically far superior in flavor compared to store bought ones. Not picked early and often of better flavor genetic material (heirloom varieties).

The model we should encourage with cannabis is the tomato one. Home grown cannabis I assume is of higher quality most of the time.

 

[Okla68]

@Mattater Hell yeah, grow your own! I read roughly half the tomatoes eaten in this country are home grown. Fresh backyard tomatoes are of course typically far superior in flavor compared to store bought ones. Not picked early and often of better flavor genetic material (heirloom varieties).

The model we should encourage with cannabis is the tomato one. Home grown cannabis I assume is of higher quality most of the time.

I probably have near a 100 dispensary containers, some are the same strain, but, out of that only 2 have been BETTER than what Ive Grown Myself. Determined I've gone about it Wrong. Ive been only doing one strain at a time. I windup getting bored/burntout with the Same before its gone. Will definitely diversify this next round with a cpl or 3 different strains.
Oklahoma is blessed in its sorta wide open Medical program. Unfortunately, too many have gone Commercial, using Tumble Trimmers, making hard marble balls, somewhat barren of Trichomes from the Tumbler as opposed to Hand Trimmed. Admittedly, hand trimming can be a PITA, especially if you have Several plants. Takes me about 1 1/2 hours to scissor wet/semi dry trim one plant. Then another 1 1/2 hours to divide/cut the dried material, Larf, Mids, Tops of that one plant. Usually have 4-5 total plants, a 2x4x5 tent and a 2x6x8 closet.

Just like most things in life, the Good stuff requires Work! But, the Personal satisfaction outweighs the work.

EDIT::::: does this response need to be moved because of the Growing discussion...Mods, please do if so as I have No Clue as how to do it, Thanks !

 

[macbill]

40 weed predictions highly likely to come true in 2023

Leafly News’ experts had 74% accuracy for weed predictions in 2022. See what's next for cannabis legalization, weed strains and more in 2023.

www.leafly.com

 

[Gunky]

Washington Post article on weed glut

 

[Polarbearboy]

Washington Post article on weed glut

Really good read about our mutual favorite topic! Here's a different WaPo link if that one doesn't work.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2022/12/30/marijuana-supply-sales-turmoil/

PS: If you're not familiar with the WaPo, some of the most interesting and funny comments come in the comments section at the bottom of the article.

 

[JBone65]

Washington Post article on weed glut

So, I will be the guy throwing the wet blanket over everything.

This article seems to have been written from a business perspective. The author speaks about how everyone jumped in to make money "on a sure thing".

If I'm reading it correctly, the author blames the pandemic, too many growers and (eventually) high taxes for depressed cannabis prices in northern California, kinda like one might look at wheat on the mercantile exchange.

The author didn't say much about the thriving black markets that come with BS contrived markets designed to fix prices and extract millions from the masses.

One California grower complained about only getting $12 from each $35/g.

A Massachusetts owner complains about only getting $40/g, and then mentions that he can buy it for $7.5/g??

$40/g is 20x what I just paid in freedom loving Oklahoma, and the local market is stable.

I hope everyone can begin to realize how badly we're all getting FO and then find a way around the totally corrupted marketplace. As it is, it's easier to get in/out of a liquor store, or some nasty strip joint than a dispensary. Weed should be available every which way, including at local open air markets, directly from growers, via the mail, etc.

If weed heads are perfectly happy with artificially high prices, who the fuck is gonna care?

Needed to vent.

 

[florduh]

You know, thinking about the oversupply of flower in most legal States... I wonder if part of the reason the big money players aren't buying off politicians is, they know once interstate commerce is legal, the wholesale price will crash even further.

$40/g is 20x what I just paid in freedom loving Oklahoma, and the local market is stable.

The market is stable now. But OK is still in a totally contrived market simply because there is no interstate commerce. I saw Okie growers stating how they're going to be well situated for when interstate commerce is legal. There was similar exuberance during the early days from Cali growers. Gotta say, I doubt it.

Given the popularity of indoor grows, you can do it virtually anywhere. Why on earth would I want weed from CA or OK over a more local grower?

When interstate commerce is legalized, the wholesale price will crater. This may be a good thing for consumers. Or not. My fear is the only people who will be able to grow profitably are big corpos slinging Monsanto Weed grown with migrant labor.

If homegrowing is allowed and small boutique type growers are allowed to sell at farmers markets, this might be ok. Or the few big corpos who survive the cratering wholesale prices will use a portion of their profits to make homegrowing illegal and smaller operations unsustainable.

 

[Gunky]

So, I will be the guy throwing the wet blanket over everything.

This article seems to have been written from a business perspective. The author speaks about how everyone jumped in to make money "on a sure thing".

If I'm reading it correctly, the author blames the pandemic, too many growers and (eventually) high taxes for depressed cannabis prices in northern California, kinda like one might look at wheat on the mercantile exchange.

The author didn't say much about the thriving black markets that come with BS contrived markets designed to fix prices and extract millions from the masses.

One California grower complained about only getting $12 from each $35/g.

A Massachusetts owner complains about only getting $40/g, and then mentions that he can buy it for $7.5/g??

$40/g is 20x what I just paid in freedom loving Oklahoma, and the local market is stable.

I hope everyone can begin to realize how badly we're all getting FO and then find a way around the totally corrupted marketplace. As it is, it's easier to get in/out of a liquor store, or some nasty strip joint than a dispensary. Weed should be available every which way, including at local open air markets, directly from growers, via the mail, etc.

If weed heads are perfectly happy with artificially high prices, who the fuck is gonna care?

Needed to vent.

I'm not sure I understand your comment. As the article says, the price of weed in legalized states, esp west coast, is plummeting. As far as profit margins go, the margin for weed is tiny once you deduct taxes, so tiny that a bunch of weed startups are going out of business. If your complaint is about high taxes then yes I agree. Grow your own, perhaps?

 

[invertedisdead]

You know, thinking about the oversupply of flower in most legal States... I wonder if part of the reason the big money players aren't buying off politicians is, they know once interstate commerce is legal, the wholesale price will crash even further.



The market is stable now. But OK is still in a totally contrived market simply because there is no interstate commerce. I saw Okie growers stating how they're going to be well situated for when interstate commerce is legal. There was similar exuberance during the early days from Cali growers. Gotta say, I doubt it.

Given the popularity of indoor grows, you can do it virtually anywhere. Why on earth would I want weed from CA or OK over a more local grower?

When interstate commerce is legalized, the wholesale price will crater. This may be a good thing for consumers. Or not. My fear is the only people who will be able to grow profitably are big corpos slinging Monsanto Weed grown with migrant labor.

If homegrowing is allowed and small boutique type growers are allowed to sell at farmers markets, this might be ok. Or the few big corpos who survive the cratering wholesale prices will use a portion of their profits to make homegrowing illegal and smaller operations unsustainable.

Once interstate commerce is initiated they'll start subterfuging out from other countries with lower labor costs, just like they do with our entire food supply and everything else we used to produce domestically.

They'll use federal legalization to actually tank the market and ruin all the potential opportunities for jobs and economic growth.
Stanford Business 101.

 

[JBone65]

I'm not sure I understand your comment. As the article says, the price of weed in legalized states, esp west coast, is plummeting. As far as profit margins go, the margin for weed is tiny once you deduct taxes, so tiny that a bunch of weed startups are going out of business. If your complaint is about high taxes then yes I agree. Grow your own, perhaps?

I wasn't complaining. Wasn't knocking the article or the author.

Merely pointing out that the only folks in this country who might be inclined to champion a genuine cannabis free market are the same folks who seem to be happy paying $35-40/g (on this thread).

I would add the comment that cannabis should be a relatively routine commodity, like tomatoes, instead of the object of so much unrestrained greed and corruption.

There are degrees of corruption, of course. Even the seemingly logical desire to (defeat capitalism in order to) create "market stability" is corrupt on some level IMO. It gets a lot worse from there in some states.

Some of the powers at be intend to have a high dollar market and tax base despite reality. I don't give a hoot about the growers or the dispensary owners. I'd rather spend my time caring about the little guy, or the poor man, than a rich business owner.

Maybe it's a generational thing, maybe it's educational, but there really is something grossly inequitable going on here, and folks are being locked up for new BS reasons.

This crowd might or might not wanna consider both sides, but more info is usually better. Wars have been fought over lesser issues. I think the Boston Tea Party is an example of folks reacting to unfair taxation alone.

https://gifimage.net/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/boston-tea-party-gif-6.gif

 

[Gunky]

I do give a hoot about growers and dispensary owners. For decades these folks have taken all sorts of risks to supply us with cannabis. I do medical grows myself and have known lots of commercial growers. Many commercial growers, such as the growers in Humboldt county in CA have gotten the shaft from legalization. This is not a consumer vs producer struggle, IMO, and producer greed is actually not the main problem right now.
Badly designed legalization schemes (such as the execrable one voters approved in CA), absurd tax structures, and fucked up regulatory schemes, as well as failure to take cannabis off schedule 1 and legalize banking for the industry at the federal level - all of those are parts of the problem.

 

[florduh]

Once interstate commerce is initiated they'll start subterfuging out from other countries with lower labor costs, just like they do with our entire food supply and everything else we used to produce domestically.

Haven't we already had Chinese nationals doing illegal grows with slave labor on US soil?

I'd like to think the cannabis community would prefer non-corpo/Monsanto Weed but I dunno. Pretty much everything I eat is grown and processed by corpos with desperate migrant labor. With weed my issue is...there's no liver to help filter shit. It's straight into the lungs.

They'll use federal legalization to actually tank the market and ruin all the potential opportunities for jobs and economic growth.

This is my fear. I think we could have a market with decent prices for consumers and good wages for workers if we only had smaller growers operating. We just don't have a government capable of encouraging such a thing.

FL has one of the least free cannabis markets I've ever seen. Prices are kept artificially high. I saw a job posting for a "Lead Hash Maker" from one of the big players here. Starting pay: $15-$17 per hour. That company sells their ice water hash rosin for $80-90 per gram.

5-10 years ago that wage may have rented you an apartment here. Now... you've gotta split rent between at least 3 people to make it work.

I think the Boston Tea Party is an example of folks reacting to unfair taxation alone.

So I learned this last year...damn near 20 years after I graduated high school. But the Sons of Liberty were not protesting a tax HIKE. They were actually protesting a tax CUT on tea. You see, many of our founding fathers were rich guys who got even richer by smuggling in foreign tea. Cutting taxes on British tea would fuck up their little scheme.

I'm not sure if there's a parallel there with our current cannabis markets. But it's kind of amazing that the conventional telling of the Boston Tea Party tale is so fucked.

 

[JBone65]

I do give a hoot about growers and dispensary owners. For decades these folks have taken all sorts of risks to supply us with cannabis. I do medical grows myself and have known lots of commercial growers. Many commercial growers, such as the growers in Humboldt county in CA have gotten the shaft from legalization. This is not a consumer vs producer struggle, IMO, and producer greed is actually not the main problem right now.
Badly designed legalization schemes (such as the execrable one voters approved in CA), absurd tax structures, and fucked up regulatory schemes, as well as failure to take cannabis off schedule 1 and legalize banking for the industry at the federal level - all of those are parts of the problem.

We probably both agree that a free and open market would be better than the over regulated, over taxed, over restricted, monstrosity it has become.

I'm sorry but I'm a consumer with my own concerns, and I would choose to care about the neediest among us, if anybody. I only want all business owners to have a fair chance to compete. In that way the market would be the actual market, not a black market, etc. Most of the weed would go thru a dispensary if there were no black market, volumes would reflect actual usage, etc

Edit:. I'll shut up now. I made my made point.

 

[His_Highness]

Cannabis is a line item on my household budget and I approach it that way.

 

[Gunky]

We probably both agree that a free and open market would be better than the over regulated, over taxed, over restricted, monstrosity it has become.

I'm sorry but I'm a consumer with my own concerns, and I would choose to care about the neediest among us, if anybody. I only want all business owners to have a fair chance to compete. In that way the market would be the actual market, not a black market, etc. Most of the weed would go thru a dispensary if there were no black market, volumes would reflect actual usage, etc

Edit:. I'll shut up now. I made my made point.

Well what has happened is that legalization initiatives like the one in California were sponsored by deep pocketed interests looking to create Big Canna and produced a market which privileges big producers and in effect cuts the legacy smaller producers out of the market. The regulations (testing, licenses, etc) are prohibitively expensive for smaller growers and push them out of the legal market. No effort was made to grandfather in the legacy producers. So we have corporate weed and black market. Whoopee, legalization! Not.

Back when legalization was coming up for a vote in CA, board members here assured me that I needn't worry, smaller producers would think up ways to compete as boutique products etc. Um, that didn't happen!

This is not a case of greedy producers fucking over consumers. Greedy consumers voted in legalization schemes that sucked and threw the existing producers under a bus, thinking they would get cheap weed and not giving a hoot about growers and marketers. Consumers behaved like addicts, wanting their fix cheap and not caring who it came from or whether the quality was compromised.

Again, this is not rich owners vs poor consumers. Those supposed rich owners are losing their shirts and going bankrupt.

 

[invertedisdead]

This is my fear. I think we could have a market with decent prices for consumers and good wages for workers if we only had smaller growers operating. We just don't have a government capable of encouraging such a thing.

To be honest though this problem starts at the ground level.

The uphill battle I see is, how can someone convince a cannabis consumer that they should be buying their weed from a small passionate grower? I mean it almost seems obvious but, obviously it's not. If simply having a superior product isn't convincing enough, it's like, what would change someones mind? A small company will never have the economy of scale to compete on price the way a megacorp could, so that's a dead end there.

It's basically the same scenario as seeing serious vape enthusiasts being the very first group of people (every single time, by the way) to hype up wompy imported clone vapes. Even some of the small vape retailers who used to be super passionate about avoiding this kind of thing seem to be.... crossing the river.

How do we convince people to support others who really care about what they're doing?

The new wave is corporate cannabis disguised via marketing as passionate small batch operations; just like the DHgate artisan vapes, or Alibaba heady glass blowers. It's the swap meet fake louis vuitton purse of the cannabis world. And there's a bigger market for that than the real purse.