MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Licensed pharmacies in Uruguay will sell marihuana at a dollar a gram
Uruguayan authorities have revealed how marijuana will be produced and sold legally in the country following the approval of the bill last December. Licensed pharmacies will sell the drug for approximately one US dollar a gram with consumers allowed 40g a month. Read full article
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Disclaimer & comment rules“New Amsterdam”... oops, righttt, that name's taken already
May 03rd, 2014 - 06:36 am - Link - Report abuse 0In my city cannabis sells for between A$280 - 300 per oz ( 28g ). When Colorado permitted legal purchases of the same outlets were charging up to US$400 per oz ( $185 for medical marijuana ). How the companies licensed to cultivate and sell the drug can make a profit, at a retail price of $1.00 per gram ( $28 per oz ), is beyond me.
May 03rd, 2014 - 08:54 am - Link - Report abuse 0@1 Troy
There are major differences between the Dutch and Uruguayan approaches.
Namely: Cultivation, possession and the sale of cannabis is still illegal in the Netherlands, although possessing small amounts will rarely be prosecuted.
Amsterdam's coffee shops would never accept such a low price - it simply wouldn't be worth their while.
The sale of cannabis in Uruguay is intended exclusively for it's own citizens. When the authorities tried something similar in the Netherlands, the coffee shop owners, and other tourism-dependent business owners, vigorously ( and successfully ) resisted. 'Cannabis tourism' is a significant source of income for the tourism industry - 90% of cannabis coffee shop revenue comes from foreigners.
The Uruguayan laws are much clearer and cut and dried, their intent much more specific. The Dutch laws are ambiguous and frequently not enforced, an accurate reflection of Dutch public opinion IMO.
'Licensed pharmacies in Uruguay will sell marihuana at a dollar a gram'
May 03rd, 2014 - 10:38 am - Link - Report abuse 0Does anybody know the present going rate for a gramme in Mercosur countries .. and the UK, for comparison?
@3 No, but it is an important question because what is to stop Uruguayans from selling it to tourists at an inflated price but below market rate in other countries?
May 03rd, 2014 - 10:48 am - Link - Report abuse 0(2) Heisenbergcontext, dear lad….
May 03rd, 2014 - 11:27 am - Link - Report abuse 0One dollar per GRAM of Mary Jane in a South American Country like Uruguay is a very fair market price…
Let’s remember that CANNABIS SATIVA is a weed that can grow almost anywhere, almost unattended and that yields some 2,000 Kilograms per Hectare…
Let's compare it with the very demanding and work intensive CROCUS SATIVUS that, at best, yields some 20 Kilograms per Hectare and wich final produce goes in the fine shops of the first world for about 4 U$ per gram...
http://www.boobookhill.com/Kiwi%20Saffron.pdf
@3 http://www.havocscope.com/black-market-prices/marijuana-prices/
May 03rd, 2014 - 11:36 am - Link - Report abuse 0There you go.
@5 Think
May 03rd, 2014 - 02:25 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Depends on whether they're growing 'outdoor gear' or hydro. The latter requires LOTS of electrickery. Also depends on how much THC it contains.
The figures that Conqueror's link show are inaccurate as far as my city goes - it costs half as much as that link states, but if his figures are correct as far as Paraguay and Argentina are concerned and that price is similar to Uruguay, and the weed is of similar quality...then I agree with you.
p.s. I turned 50 last week. Calling me a 'lad' is a bit of a stretch...
@4 .....what is to stop Uruguayans from selling it to tourists at an inflated price but below market rate in other countries?
May 03rd, 2014 - 02:32 pm - Link - Report abuse 0The 40gram a month purchase limit presumably, which would mean that, if an enterprising non-cannabis smoker were able to sell his monthly allocation to foreigners for (say) $5 a gram he could make $4 a gram profit, or $160 a month which is not a bad sideline income for Uruguay but maybe not worth the risk.
note: South Africa (where I am now) is just 0.10c a gram..! (courtesy of Conqueror's informative link..!)
2 Heisenbergcontext
May 03rd, 2014 - 02:44 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I admit that I was immediately envisioning a Marijuana Tourism scenario just like in Holland, without realising it was intended for the locals only and regulated as such by the government.
$1 per gram would also certainly take away any large profit potential if the government regulates the price.
However, as ElaineB suggests, if the locals were to re-sell to the Drug Tourists at a higher unofficial rate, we could be looking at a whole new black market catering specifically to foreigners.
I would be interested to see if the government tries to prevent or control that from happening, since it would be illegal, and the revenue generated would be untaxed.
On the other hand, if authorities turne a blind eye, and “grey-market” marijuana were available to foreign drug tourists, the economic spin- off from foreigners staying in hotels, indulging their “munchies” at local restaurants, and spending money as tourists do, would be an enormous boon to the economy.
@9 Troy
May 03rd, 2014 - 03:19 pm - Link - Report abuse 0I can't vouch for the accuracy of the figures Conqueror's link quotes for Paraguay ( from where, I understand, most of Uruguay's dope comes from ), but the figure is also $1.00g. That being the case, unless Uruguay's new, legal, weed is significantly stronger, I can't see there being much of a market for it outside of it's intended consumers.
South Americans don't need to have anything readily available that makes them dumber and lazier.
May 03rd, 2014 - 03:55 pm - Link - Report abuse 0They're doing that well already
(7) Heisenbergcontext...
May 03rd, 2014 - 04:37 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You say…:
”Depends on whether they're growing 'outdoor gear' or hydro. The latter requires LOTS of electrickery. Also depends on how much THC it contains.”
I say…:
IMHO, those hydroponic “Frankenstein” varieties with 30, 40 or God knows how much %’s of THC are the sick result of illegality…
Nothing beats the good old free range mariguana from “Rancho El Bufalo” ;-)
You say further…:
”I turned 50 last week. Calling me a 'lad' is a bit of a stretch...”
I say…:
Happy birthday lad…. All is relative, you know…
Just spend some time in the company of a couple of charming Nobile Donne ( who’s age shall remain unmentioned) who were planning their combined round birthday party later this year…
The BABY DAUGHTER of one of them fine ladies will be turning 60 on that very same day…
As said... All is relative…
@12 Think
May 03rd, 2014 - 05:47 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You have to look at it from the perspective of an addict, who says 'If this gets me completely wacked imagine how smashed I'd be if I had TWICE as much“. No self-respecting Aussie pot-head is going to settle for bush-weed if they can score some uber-pungent hydro. They have their standards you know...
Thanks for the birthday wishes. I never expected to make it this far so everyday I'm still breathing is a bonus.
”All is relative.” Indeed.
(13)Heisenbergcontext
May 03rd, 2014 - 06:29 pm - Link - Report abuse 0You say...:
“You have to look at it from the perspective of an addict...”
I say...:
Nope...
WE DON'T “have to look at it from the perspective of an addict”...
We have to look at it from the perspective of the 95% of World users who are NOT addicts...
We have to look at it from the perspective of the 95% of World users being decriminalized by an intelligent policy like the Uruguayan one...
A TRUE addict will ALWAYS have the choice of autodestructing by abusing ANYTHING...
This post has revealed a fascinating new perspective on Señor Think's thinking. If he is such an uber-liberal to want to legalise marijuana, why then does he support a forcible Argentine occupation of the Falklands? An event which, were it to happen, would surely result in the importation of thousands of Argentine colonising squatters and the ethnic-cleaning of 8 generations of an English-speaking population, the extinction of a unique society and its replacement by an outpost of the Argentine colony of Patagonia - and those of us who have been there know what a veritable earthly paradise and exemplar of good governance and environmental management that forlorn place is.
May 03rd, 2014 - 09:24 pm - Link - Report abuse 0@14 Think
May 04th, 2014 - 04:19 am - Link - Report abuse 0The figure you provided doesn't reflect the reality of my experience of working with and knowing thousands of both drug addicts and recreational users. In fact I've never seen ANY govt. or NGO statistics that come even close.
You say: “A TRUE addict will ALWAYS have the choice of autodestructing by abusing ANYTHING...”
Addicts don't choose to use drugs or otherwise act on their addictions. Their addiction makes that choice for them. Addicts only get clean when they accept that they CAN'T control their addiction. It's only at that point that they can acknowledge that they need help and can develop the willingness to seek it.
I don't have any problem with Uruguay's programme/experiment. I don't have any opinion at all on whether it's a good idea or not. I'm just an interested observer.
(16) Heisenbergcontext
May 04th, 2014 - 08:26 am - Link - Report abuse 0I don't have any problem with Uruguay's programme either.
But, contrary to you..., I do have a strong opinion on this excellent idea that reverts a big mistake made by some haughty Anglo moralists some 100 years ago...
By the looks of it at US$1.00 per gram retail, it will collapse the illegal black market sales. If the aim of Mujica's new law is to bust the organized crime syndicates by destroying their business model then it's a no brainer. At US$100 a kilo retail it's definitively not profitable enough for criminals. As for the legal producers I think they can still make money out of it, consider that instant coffee in Chile is about US$20 per kilo. It just means they have to sell a lot of weed.
May 04th, 2014 - 08:39 am - Link - Report abuse 0Brings a whole new meaning to the song,
May 04th, 2014 - 09:46 am - Link - Report abuse 0come fly with me- come fly, come fly with me,
im as high as you , and having much more fun..la la .
(18) The Chilean perspective
May 04th, 2014 - 10:40 am - Link - Report abuse 0US$20 per kilo???
That’s maybe the price in Santiago for the “Dolca” stuff..., only suitable for breast feeding Babies, weones Santiaguinos metrosesuales or indigent northern Huasos…
If you want a good instant kick (read Nescafé’s Alta Rica or Espresso) you’ll end paying around 70 U$ per Kg in Shile….
Hey I missed a zero in my post and BTW traditional Nescafe is about 38 bucks a kilo.
May 04th, 2014 - 11:27 am - Link - Report abuse 021 Chilean
May 04th, 2014 - 05:39 pm - Link - Report abuse 0“ BTW traditional Nescafe is about 38 bucks a kilo.”
Hang on !!
Surely Think would know that, wouldn't he ??
Why do you think he would say it costs $70 ??
Either he must pathologically lie about everything,
or,
he truly does not know.
Hmmm...
Or, as usual……...... Think knows exactly what he is speaking about…:
May 04th, 2014 - 07:00 pm - Link - Report abuse 01) Nescafe “Espresso”, 100 gr. Jar = 3,959 CPL = 39,590 CPL x Kg
= ~70 U$D
2) Nescafe “Alta Rica”, 100 gr. Jar = 3,959 CPL = 39,590 CPL x Kg
= ~70 U$D
3) Nescafe “Tradición”, 100 gr. Jar = 2,379 CPL = 23,790 CPL x Kg
= ~42 U$D
http://www.jumbo.cl/FO/CategoryDisplay?patron=nescaf%E9
I reckon good on Uruguay.......let's see if it works and then we'll be better placed to say whether it was the right or wrong decision.
May 05th, 2014 - 03:08 am - Link - Report abuse 0Who knows, it might work. Nobody knows, nobody's done it. The situation worldwide could hardly be worse; traditional approaches have failed miserably.
May 05th, 2014 - 03:45 am - Link - Report abuse 0Like it or not Pandora's box has been opened and any attempts to regulate consumption by law are doomed to failure.
May 05th, 2014 - 04:00 pm - Link - Report abuse 0As far as I know no government has legislated on how many cigarettes a smoker may buy per month or indeed how many whiskies he should imbibe.
So my opinion is to put the sale on a commercial basis according to demand and tax the sale the same as other legal drugs such as nicotine or alcohol.
The ideal would be to use the revenue raised for medical research, but that's a forlorn hope meTHINKS
@26 Perhaps you didn't read the article. Doesn't it say that Uruguay's druggies will be allowed 40 grams a month? Just enough to get a taste for it. But, look on the bright side, they will be obvious. They can be put down like any other mangy curs!
May 05th, 2014 - 05:53 pm - Link - Report abuse 0Conqueror yes I did read the article. I do live in Uruguay so have also followed the debate on our own press and if you had you will find that there is a majority against legalization but that 51% are prepared to see if the law works before repealing it.
May 05th, 2014 - 06:19 pm - Link - Report abuse 0We come downtown a matter of choice or a nanny sate which regulates everything that people do.
Your argument is not valid. Giving an adolescent a glass of wine does not make him or her an alcoholic for life.
The USA under the Volstead Act introduced Prohibition. All it did was to encourage the illegal racketeers whose power today in form of the Mafia is still a facet of US culture.
@27 Conqueror
May 06th, 2014 - 02:36 am - Link - Report abuse 0FYI 40g per month is a lot more than a 'taste'. It is more than enough to get a dedicated pot head stoned all day, everyday for the 30 day duration.
The good news for Uruguayan society is that, at $1 a day, this weed is going to significantly weaker than what the consumers of your nation are accustomed to. A spontaneous explosion in the appearance of dread-locks is therefore highly unlikely.
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