Washington Residents Smoke Way More Weed Than Officials Thought

[CarolKing]

I keep hearing that there is an over supply of cannabis that was grown outdoors last summer and fall in eastern Washington. These suppliers it sounds like are holding on to their supplies so they can get more money later on. The prices are still very high at the rec stores because of WA state's insane taxes.
This is one farmer.

All of this has driven prices down in Washington for farmers like Lauerman.

"In the early days, we were able to get, like, $1,700 to $2,200 a pound, wholesale. Now it's like $700, $800 a pound," he said. "That's not profitable at all. I've got most of my stuff stashed away for later."

 

[Wahiker]

I live in Washington, but have yet to purchase any legal weed. And I don't plan to until the price is comparable with black market pricing (unless the quality was so much better it was worth the price). I have many friends who feel the same way. My gut feeling is that as seen as legal prices get close to the black market, the market sales will explode. But for now, the black market is very much alive and well and not at all threatened by the legal stores.

 

[grokit]

I was discussing this in some other thread (I think), and the gist seemed to be that the outdoor quality isn't quite there with the indoor stuff, which isn't having any problems selling in dispensaries at the higher prices. This was another poster's opinion but it made sense to me. My opinion is this farmer either needs to step up his quality to be more competitive in the high-end bud market, or sell in bigger quantities at lower prices to the concentrates market. It's just supply and demand, and these indoor growers seem to be doing fine.

 

[Enchantre]

I've seen outdoor grown at the MMJ market, for as low as (are you ready?) $600 per pound.

I'm not sure I would have even made butter with it, as it was small, popcorn buds, very light and fluffy, but there you go.
It was, indeed, cannabis buds.

 

[CarolKing]

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[GeekyGodiva]

A friend was saying yesterday that the Vancouver/SW Washington weed market is about to lower their prices something fierce, because they just cannot compete with the black market. I don't know what his source is, though or by how much the price will be dropping. It makes sense though, since our Portland visitors will soon have even less-restrictive cannabis regulations in their own state, so the market has to start seeing customership from locals or it may dwindle, and we don't want to lose access legal weed in WA because the market is glutted with unsalable product.

 

[OregonStoner]

A friend was saying yesterday that the Vancouver/SW Washington weed market is about to lower their prices something fierce, because they just cannot compete with the black market. I don't know what his source is, though or by how much the price will be dropping. It makes sense though, since our Portland visitors will soon have even less-restrictive cannabis regulations in their own state, so the market has to start seeing customership from locals or it may dwindle, and we don't want to lose access legal weed in WA because the market is glutted with unsalable product.

Prices have been coming down. There are $199 oz available, but I haven't actually purchased any of it.

Stores were getting even lower prices by bundling the weed with pipes and etc.. Some of the other stores complained and THIS was the result.

 

[Enchantre]

I got $100 ounces today... for two!

Today was an excellent stock up on meds day.

 

[SamuraiSam]

One of the main reasons for the glut of legal weed sitting in the vaults of processors is that the WA Liquor control board has been very slow at getting licences issued and so only a small percentage of the 334 eventual legal stores are open for business. Think of it like a bottleneck in the system. They seem to be picking up the pace so that restriction will be easing very soon.

Also... As more product sits for longer, growers become more anxious to move it; prices are dropping for stores to purchase at; I think we're going to start to see growers and producers go out of business- if the product isn't quality, stores aren't going to buy it. As more stores open up the market will have more of a chance at finding fair prices. At least in my experiences stores are cutting prices in step with the wholesale price drop. There is a lot of tax involved and a lot of compliance costs, in networked video surveillance systems from seed to sale, so it's going to be very hard for legal stores to compete on price compared to medical for the next few years, depending on what happens in the state legislature. A variety of crappy proposals are on the table right now to combine medical and recreational...

 

[macbill]

I just got my mmj card on Valentines Day, and I live in Vancouver, WA. Strangely enough, there are no brick and mortar dispensaries in SW Washington, but there are mucho delivery services. The first service came prepared with everything (he had left) on his web site. He handed out a little flashlight/keychain so's a person can see the crystally buds better. Yeah, I admit, the "Durban's Poison" looked like those cool pictures of fab buds seen on seed sites. It was so pretty, I had to buy it. 1/8 cost me $60 (I think).

I ordered from another service, filled concentrate cartomizers for standard 510 e-cig battery bases, both indica and sativa. I gots to learn how to make these.

I believe a trip North to the land of many dispensaries is in order, 'cause Weedmaps told me so. The Journey continues..........

 

[CarolKing]

@macbill The med mj Farmers Market in Olympia will be open the 14th and 28th of March at the Black Lake Grange. You will be in heaven - prices are awesome. I hope you didn't pay $60.

 

[t-dub]

Washington amazes me. They pass a law to end prohibition and black markets, and then set taxes so high they create prohibition and black markets. How anyone on SSDI could afford to be a disabled/patient in your state is beyond me. It makes me sick just thinking about the prices up there. Yes I get all my flowers for free and for sick people this is as it should be imho.

 

[Enchantre]

Washington amazes me. They pass a law to end prohibition and black markets, and then set taxes so high they create prohibition and black markets. How anyone on SSDI could afford to be a disabled/patient in your state is beyond me. It makes me sick just thinking about the prices up there. Yes I get all my flowers for free and for sick people this is as it should be imho.

I know, right?

This is why I'm growing my own... and, why we do the MMJ Markets... grower to patient direct, THE WAY IT SHOULD BE...

Hoping for the best.... prepping for the worst...

oh, and yes, FC members can even request "intro" services at our Olympia area MMJ markets (there are TWO! the Son Organics / Washington Farmers Market, as @CarolKing mentioned, and there is also a Sunday market, EVERY Sunday, at Paulie G's Pool Hall on Devoe St. in Olympia (east side). Some growers do both, btw...

 

[macbill]

Washington amazes me. They pass a law to end prohibition and black markets, and then set taxes so high they create prohibition and black markets. How anyone on SSDI could afford to be a disabled/patient in your state is beyond me. It makes me sick just thinking about the prices up there. Yes I get all my flowers for free and for sick people this is as it should be imho.

I'm a newbie, but I bet I won't be for long. My license says I have a right to a "60 day supply". "60 day supply" = 24 oz of cured + 17 live plants. I must be swimming in it to have so much. I am allowed to grant permission for someone to grow my 17 plants.

This is like a recipe from God: "Only 17 plants, my son. But they can be the size of houses." I am looking forward to visiting the Farmers Mkt. I feel like Dorothy, with the Emerald City (Seattle) in the distance....
You're out of the woods
You're out of the dark
You're out of the night
Step into the sun
Step into the light
March up to the gate and bid it open, open

 

[t-dub]

All this growing is nice, if you know how to do it, have the private property and resources, AND if you are capable, NOT sick and tired from chemo/disabilities. Finding a good provider is essential. Mine is from a multi-generational legal grow with multiple patients in family. He gives me 3 pounds of flowers/year for FREE and winterized BHO for a price so low you wouldn't believe it. I doubt there are very many people like him out there. I sincerely hope you find one. This plant was one of eighteen, sorry for the pic repost, but that guy standing there pointing up is well over 6 feet tall . . .

1 of 18 . . .

 

[macbill]

Aurghhhhhhh. Pot Porn... mmm. Yes, I should be so lucky. Even if I were just a little lucky...

Once you see a pot plant, you want to see them all.

 

[Wahiker]

My license says I have a right to a "60 day supply". "60 day supply" = 24 oz of cured + 17 live plants. ...
This is like a recipe from God: "Only 17 plants, my son. But they can be the size of houses."

So let me get this straight: For 60 days you are entitled to 24 ozs (which works out to 0.4 ozs or 3.2 eighths) PER DAY -- PLUS (if that's not enough) -- a smidge over a quarter of a house-sized plant each day!

I think I could make do with this.

 

[Enchantre]

The 24 ounces of dried, AND 15 plants to "maintain a 60-day supply" is what mine says. It's quoting RCW 69.51A005. So, that is considered enough for two months... of course, with inventory in & out daily, but the average amount on hand should not exceed this unless the Dr writes it differently (they can, btw. They can prescribe a plant a day if they want).

So, the growing plants are not viewed as "current' meds, just the way to maintain the supply...

 

[CarolKing]

Small Washington town opening city-owned marijuana shop
POSTED 6:45 AM, MARCH 6, 2015,

• EMAIL

KCPQ-TV

NORTH BONNEVILLE, Wash. (AP) — Known for some of the best windsurfing conditions in the country, the small Columbia River Gorge town of North Bonneville, Washington, is embarking on a new enterprise — a city-owned marijuana shop.

The Columbian newspaper of Vancouver reports that the rural city of about 1,000 people plans to open The Cannabis Corner this weekend.

 

[CarolKing]

Scenes like this — from the 2013 High Times Cannabis Cup — can’t legally occur in Seattle anymore under “legalization”
[Audrey King/Northwest Leaf]

Hear that massive sucking sound? That’s the sound of all Washington’s promised “cannabis tourism” dollars going south to Oregon.


You know, the windfall that was promised to Washington state voters if they approved Initiative 502, the anemic, problem-plagued marijuana “legalization” initiative that has become a nationwide laughingstock. I-502 has become, in effect, a bad example of how NOT to do legalization, even as Colorado and Oregon laugh all the way to the bank.

Welcome to Washington state’s dumb-ass brand of “legalization”… Where in reality we are slipping BACKWARDS from the progress we achieved with medical marijuana, to restrictive new “recreational” rules that forbid on-site consumption. When greedy 502 merchants got these rules passed to shut down medical marijuana dispensaries, they cut off their noses to spite their faces… and most are too clueless to recognize this, even now.


Our cannabis utopia here in Washington state is a joke. I'm feeling really frustrated with the Med Cannabis getting lumped in with recreational. Politician are playing us like a fucking fiddle. Vote these self serving asses out of office. We still have referendums in this state.

 

[macbill]

I went to the 2014 Cannabis Cup held in Everett (not Seattle), and there was plenty of product about: at the time I didn't have a mj card, but only 1 vendor asked. There was an incredible amount of concentrate available, which I thought was not even available to recreation users in the State.

 

[macbill]

Seattle could close some medical marijuana dispensaries

By July, 2016

 

[grokit]

So is everett becoming cannabis central by default, because of seattle's dysfunctional gov?

 

[macbill]

@grokit
My understanding is the government has tightened the rules which go into effect 7/1/2016. Many medical disp will close: only 400 allowed - and recreational outlets will have two pricing schemes: one for medical and one for recreational. Now, I could be wrong, but that is what I think will happen.

Info Here

 

[CarolKing]

There are still a lot of unknowns as to what will eventually happen. There is a couple of peoples referendums out there. Hopefully the people of the state can make some of the decisions not just a chosen handful of cannabis haters.

The state allowed almost 20 years of the dispensaries operating in a gray area. Now they want to impose very strict rules. Its really hard to put the Jennie back in the bottle. Folks are really angry. They don't want any tampering with the medicine that they have been able to get all this time. Folks have certain strains that they rely on to help them with their illness. They may not be able to get the types of cannabis that helps them.

I agree some things need to be tightened up but that state is going about it the wrong way. they really want the money that they can get from the taxes. They don't care about the sick people that need cannabis for their medicine.

The legislature and the Governor's greed will force people to go back to black market weed. I'm not willing to pay $16.00 a gram for my meds. I am able to go to a mmj farmers market and get it for $6 and $7 a gram and its organic.

There is a lot of pesticides in some of the recreational cannabis. Its not good for people with already compromised immune systems.

EDIT
I just checked and cannabis prices have come down. It ranges about $200 - $250 an ounce which is cheaper than the price I included above. It's always more expensive buying lesser amounts. 1/8 could be as much as $80 and a gram could be $13 - $15 it depends on where you go.