MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Colorado, USA, celebrates the end of marihuana prohibition and opens new chapter
The world's first state-licensed marijuana retailers legally permitted to sell pot for recreational use have opened for business in Colorado with long lines of customers, marking a new chapter in America's drug culture. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rulesOh swell, I get to go the People's Republic of Boudler next week. I'll probably have to struggle to notice a difference.
Jan 02nd, 2014 - 07:31 pm - Link - Report abuse 01/8 sampler pack US$45 inc TAX. And they can't, by law, pay with a ATM card.
Jan 03rd, 2014 - 10:09 am - Link - Report abuse 0Great thinking by the lawmakers there: apparently the “police were walking the line which went around the block to prevent pickpockets taking advantage”. There wasn't any police on the news video I watched however.
So the pot-heads are going to find themselves rolled for the money BEFORE they get high.
Talk about “unintended consequences” that anybody with half-a-brain could have predicted. Perhaps all the lawmakers were smoking pot when they debated the draft law, or just stupid as usual.
I wonder if Pot-Head Hill will be going from Canada to Colorado for a holiday this year.
They are charging as much as $400 oz which is a lot more than I expected, and that's before sales tax is added. Once the novelty has worn off, if competition doesn't reduce these prices considerably, the Colorado treasury will be missing out.
Jan 03rd, 2014 - 11:24 am - Link - Report abuse 0People won't be buying 'retail' anymore.
@ 3 Heisenbergcontext
Jan 03rd, 2014 - 09:50 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“People won't be buying 'retail' anymore.”
It seems so.
And of course Pepe’s much vaunted pot test law will suffer the same fate as I posted on that topic.
I have no idea what the world’s “law makers” think when they are “making” laws, but it clearly never adds up and that doesn’t matter which country you choose, Europe, UK or America and especially South America.
It's a cash only business because of the Federal government not the States. The Feds prohibit using the banking system for illegal profits which marijuana (still illegal at the Federal level) sales are. The bank officers can be charged, the assets of the bank seized, the bank fined and closed.
Jan 04th, 2014 - 01:22 am - Link - Report abuse 0The IRS makes it extremely difficult to take standard business deduction on what they consider an illegal enterprise.
@4 ChrisR
Jan 04th, 2014 - 04:28 am - Link - Report abuse 0Chris, Medical marijuana retails for $185 oz in Colorado. The state legislature sets the price which they have declined to do so with the 'other' legal dope. They've decided to let the market do what free markets always do. The retailers obviously figured out that demand would be high initially and set their prices accordingly.
I can say, without fear of contradiction, that if Australian consumers were offered good quality marijuana at $185 oz without having their name on a govt. register no-one, unless they were growing for themselves, would buy on the illegal or black (i.e. untaxed) market.
The difference between Colorado and Uruguay is that Uruguay WILL be setting the price. A price of $400 oz would be unsustainable in your country given the disparity in income between the U.S. and Uruguay.
A lot of national and regional governments around the world will be watching what happens in Colorado and Washington State as well as Uruguay and if they believe they can live with whatever negative social consequences follow, the tax revenue will be irresistible.
Grow your own, l used to.
Jan 04th, 2014 - 07:10 am - Link - Report abuse 0@ 6 Heisenbergcontext
Jan 04th, 2014 - 09:21 am - Link - Report abuse 0Thank you for that.
Pepe will jack the price because he needs the money after his spending spree has left the country broke.
That is why I think the illegal market will live on.
20 pesos the spliff Chris, at last you can smile!!!
Jan 04th, 2014 - 10:50 am - Link - Report abuse 0@8 ChrisR
Jan 04th, 2014 - 11:44 am - Link - Report abuse 0The Uruguayan Cannabis Studies Association says that the price will be $1.00 per gram, which translates to $28.00 per oz. According to them this will be 40% cheaper than what it costs now. This is 14 times less than what they are charging in Colorado. I am astounded they can they can produce it for such a low amount.
I would be surprised if your amiable President took the actions you describe - he doesn't seem that cynical to me. There is another option however. It seems Canada has predicted a 100 000 kg shortfall in it's medical marijuana production as it transitions to licensed growers - Uruguay could easily profit from this situation.
@ 10 Heisenbergcontext
Jan 04th, 2014 - 03:27 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“The Uruguayan Cannabis Studies Association says that the price will be $1.00 per gram, which translates to $28.00 per oz. According to them this will be 40% cheaper than what it costs now.”
I am a little “uncertain” about that and will wait until I see which “slot” they use.
However, I am certain that either the government price will rise or the drug dealers will drop their price to undercut the “official price”.
They are not going to be beaten by some dimwit, ex-terrorist who didn’t even qualify to leave school.
@11 ChrisR
Jan 04th, 2014 - 04:57 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I don't know much about the Uruguayan marijuana market but I do know a bit about the market here. It's different to other illegal drug markets. Organised crime has a piece of it, mostly through bikie gangs, but they don't control it. Nobody does. It's too easy to grow and sell.
The profit margins are nothing like drugs like heroin, cocaine ( which is much harder to come by in Australia than either Western Europe or the America's ) ecstasy, amphetamines or benzodiazepines. It's also bulky, relatively heavy and transporting large amounts presents obvious difficulties.
The dealers I know of presently are both middle-aged women and the prices they charge are mostly dependent on what 'their' growers are charging them. They don't control the growers. Most people I know who smoke a lot of dope are willing to accept variations in prices if they have a reliable source of drugs.
I'm sceptical about those prices too even though they came from a Reutors article. The differential between what they propose and the current price I do believe though - I don't believe any current illegal operation will be able to produce pot any near as cheaply as an official government operation.
Either way I will be very interested in the results.
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