Marijuana glut looms

[pscot]

http://www.newser.com/story/89137/dirt-cheap-calif-pot-triggers-grower-panic.html

(Newser) – Moves towards legalizing marijuana are creating hard times for the marijuana farmers of northern California. The growers—who prospered when government crackdowns sent prices soaring—are suffering from increased competition and consumer preference for indoor-grown marijuana. Pot's wholesale price has plummeted, and many fear the 30-year-boom in California's "Emerald Triangle" is coming to an end.

Some growers are stuck with a glut of marijuana they can't unload at any price, according to the sheriff of Mendocino County. They recently arrested a man with 800 pounds of processed marijuana, the sheriff tells NPR. "We asked him: 'What are you going to do with 800 pounds of processed?' And he said, 'I don't know.'" The host of the annual Emerald Cup competition for the area's best pot says that poor-quality pot is to blame and that the marijuana industry is starting to become more like other agricultural industries, where only the most efficient growers make it when too many compete

This is probably going to hurt the Mexican drug cartels, which still do a huge business in cheap weed. And it will also likely be a blow to the prison/industrial complex. Just goes to show what a little competition can do. Support your local dealer.

[Taverner]

1. Hahahahaha!!!!!

I used to have a T Shirt that read "Friends don't let Friends pay for pot"

And I agree 100%

[Forkboy]

2. Sounds horrifying.

[hlthe2b]

3. For once, a success a la capitalism..

Decriminalize is step one; Legalize is way past due.

[mike_c]

4. yup, this is a huge economic issue in my neighborhood...

...where the black market in pot is the absolute backbone of the local economy. Here in the triangle, we've been fighting for legalization for decades, only to find that, on the doorstep of a saner marijuana policy in California, local growers will likely be harmed rather than helped, at least economically. Still, as a longtime marijuana user, I'll welcome any moves that lower the cost and enhance availability of my favorite herb.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

5. It is all about cocaine around here,

Cheap cocaine has made pot uncool among the suburban a&f douchebag set.

[Gates9]

6. Laissez Faire!

Poor hippies, now they have to do real work... Supply and demand, that is the mantra. The thing that makes this industry so volatile is that it is, indeed, becoming a real commodity here in the good 'ol US of A. That means competition, and creating a marketing structure that is a hybrid of the traditional black market, and the newly developing legal market. I find this controversy interesting, as the mary-jane market is really the closest thing to what the libertarians would propose for our macro-scale commodities. Of course, it's power as an un-regulated commodity, is precisely why the guvment made it illegal in the first place.