Legal Pot in the US Is Crippling Mexican Cartels

[Lhalo]

Just as many of us here suspected.

https://news.vice.com/article/legal-pot-in-the-us-is-crippling-mexican-cartels

[tdawg87]

We can't have good things coming of this, can we? Time to make it illegal again!

[Jay]

nice dope in that photo

[Jason]

It's only legal in a small portion of the US which I don't think is enough to make that big of an impact on the cartels as the article claims.

[Lou]

Cool, more meth 

[TobiasFunke]

It's only legal in a small portion of the US which I don't think is enough to make that big of an impact on the cartels as the article claims.

First thing I thought of. "crippling"? Haha

[Blarg]

I didn't realize the state of Colorado had consumed so much of the illegal market share. Must be the Red Rock concerts.

[Lhalo]

I haven't consumed THC in years but I'm in Denver this weekend so I might have to dabble a little bit.

[Taylor]

Lol @ "Vice News."

[Lhalo]

Lol @ "Vice News."

It's not quite The Hindustan Times but hey it's quotable.

[Don]

From what I can tell, Colorado is basically supplying the whole central US at this point. Which was bound to happen. And as we all know, you can't fight against drugs on the supply side, meaning that will basically be the case from now until forever.

[TobiasFunke]

Lol @ "Vice News."

Vice has become quite the news outlet in the past few years.

[Thomas]

Cool, more meth 

 

Shut it! We're making it as fast as we can!

[tdawg87]

People need to stop mething around.

-Rob Neyer 2008

[Lhalo]

Lol @ "Vice News."

Time Warner is seeking to purchase Vice for $2-3 billion.

Yeah lol.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-06-10/time-warner-said-in-talks-to-buy-stake-in-vice-media.html

[Taylor]

Lol @ Time Warner

[TennAngelsFan]

The Washington Post reported on Tuesday that pot farmers in the Sinaloa region have stopped planting due to a massive drop in wholesale prices, from $100 per kilo down to only $25. One farmer is quoted as saying: “It’s not worth it anymore. I wish the Americans would stop with this legalization.”

 

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

I feel the pain of these hard working people just trying to feed their families.  I'm thinking congress will need to send a few bucks down there to help these poor people.  I mean come on we all are doing so well.

[Brandon]

He's right.

 

You can still get top dollar for quality bud, but top dollar is now ~2800 whereas it used to be ~3500....and it's still declining as the market is ridiculously saturated. I think the outdoor packs that the guy in the article does goes for something like 1500-1800. Outdoor doesn't have utility costs, but if you're growing indoor and paying rent, a premium on electricity and water, plus a consistently rising nutrient cost.....the profi margins are slim compared to the risk, not to mention you don't have the flexibility to maybe have a bad crop or below average crop that would go for 2000 a pound.

 

It's better to be a "legal" drug dealer and not have to mess with the costs and risk (with a ton of people growing pot now people are constantly getting robbed). Just be a middle man and pick up from the growers and sell to dispensaries or other middle men that take it out of state (where the real money is...I think Florida and most east coast states go for something like 5k a pound). But middle men pick up for x, sell at y, and make about 200 or 300 a pack. You get someone who wants a regular sized order of 15 pounds and that's 4500 just for delivering from point a to b. You start dealing with heavy hitters that want/move 150 pounds a week (when you start looking at these type of numbers it's a trip to think that it's in need and going to be smoked and that there are that many potheads) and.....well, you get the idea.

 

Crime is down and tax revenue is up in Colorado, so it's just going to expand. There's still money to be made, but the marijuana economy has seriously declined.....more growers, more people that don't know what they are doing so bad product, etc. The demand is still there, but the supply being saturated really messes everything up.

[arch stanton]

I've never been a pot user but if I was I would probably just grow my own.

[Lhalo]

I've never been a pot user but if I was I would probably just grow my own.

I know people that grow. They describe it as being a huge pain in the ass. There are bugs and fungus that need to be defended against. Also there's a lot of trimming and preparing of the buds that requires very time consuming labor. I would do it as a hobby like growing tomatoes or peppers but if I had to do it on a massive scale, F that.

[arch stanton]

As I said. I would grow my own. No desire to feed the masses.

[Brandon]

It depends. For the most part, the people you know are correct.

 

I know both types and have helped the personal growers. You'd be surprised at how many types of people smoke weed, but also grow and it's predominately older dudes and not the expected pothead types. With the growers that are mostly for personal consumption, I mainly see guys literally just plant some seeds in their backyard in the spring and just let it rip until the fall. You can use just regular tap water from the hose and you'll grow pot......it won't be ideal, but personal consumption types don't really seem to care. Regular tap water has calcium and magnesium in it (along with a bunch of other shit like chlorine), and most of these guys don't even ph their water and use the bare minimum with regards to nutrients or a feeding schedule.

 

With regards to commercial or actual business set ups, it really isn't as glamorous as the tv shows make it. It takes a really good while to not only dial in a room, but as mentioned any little hiccup in atmosphere, regiment, or problems like mites or plant mildew and you have to just blow up the crop and start over.....and this is beyond hurtful if, say, you already have invested 2 months into the program paying your high utility costs and nutrient costs  then have to start over.....major, major financial hit not to mention you now have to reset the cycle.

 

For the most part, if you have a steady and consistent set up, it should be low maintenance and just a simple process outside of maybe a couple days out of the 3 1/2 month cycle that are considered "big days".......transplanting, de-leafing, pulling down, trimming. So many legit scientists have already created the manuscript for growing and for the most part you really just let them do their own thing and don't mess with them outside of feeding every 3 days (depending on your system). So for a majority of your run you are simply working every 3 days and the other days essentially babysitting.

 

But yeah, say you're in veg and there is a rolling blackout in the area and your power is down for 24 hours, your plants will go into flower (the whole process of growing marijuana is simply manipulating the seasons, light schedule, and climate changes of such. So lighting is critical because when they go out the plants think the sun has gone down) and being living things, like us, they react and think it's time to flower........so you're screwed and start over. This is the same if say you ac goes out or malfunctions while you're away and they burn up or get way too stressed and they hermaphrodite (female plants are what provide uality bud, herms and males create a ton of seeds), or the dehumidifiers go out, clog, or malfunction and your humidity levels get way out of line. Things like bugs and PM, plant mildew, are easily a non-issue with a clean and sterile environment with a well aerated room...but are legit issues and threats if you're not on top of it.

 

It should be as simple as simply filling up your water reservoirs with a specific nutrient/feeding program and checking the ph for feeding every 3 days and as mentioned you have maybe a handful of major events throughout the cycle, but with all the variables...and I just mentioned a couple....there are a multitude of ways of having a failed crop and this doesn't even include the risk side like smell getting out or maybe you created a red flag for your landlord with water consumption if water is included in your rent.

 

And let's not even get started with the types of people you encounter or deal with in the industry.

 

The tv shows and media would have you believe it's some crazy "green rush" and to an extent it's still a multi-billion dollar industry and is a money maker, but nowhere as near as easy as they would make it seem where every Joe Stoner is making hand over fist. It's completely feasible to make around 50k every 3 1/2 months by yourself with just putting in maybe 2 hours a day of work and many do (I've even seen warehouses that make well over a million a year), but the way the media portrays it isn't accurate nor as easy.  

 

With the legalization partt still in its infancy there are a ton of loop holes and grey areas too with everything from growing, to distribution, legalities, taxes, etc.

[Lhalo]

Interesting post B. Very informative.

[arch stanton]

BTW, for anyone who is thinking of personal growing...making mash for booze is a great way to flood a room with CO2 for a week or 2.. Sugar, water, yeast and a little corn flour.

[Brandon]

BTW, for anyone who is thinking of personal growing...making mash for booze is a great way to flood a room with CO2 for a week or 2.. Sugar, water, yeast and a little corn flour.

 

Interesting.

 

The standard route seems to be just a propane tank, burner, and some sort of controller to continuously have a CO2 range. Although, as I mentioned above with various variables that can (and do) go out the industry is always trying to eliminate possible and potential hiccups and one that I know a lot of people are switching to is hooking up to the gas line directly with a controller....just keeps a consistent CO2 path and the less things you have to maintenance or switch out, like a propane tank, the better.

 

Also, I haven't really done much research on the CO2 end, but assume the more the merrier much like humans and oxygen. Most rooms are controlled around ~1500ppm, and while one can't control how much CO2 is produced with the mash (I'm ure there is a way though), I assume you could never over saturate them with their breathing matter, but I also assume scientists have came up with the ~1500 for a reason.

 

Definitely worth looking into.