Mexican marijuana is still plentiful — and cheap

[peejay 327]

Mexican marijuana is still plentiful — and cheap

The popular drug's prices have changed little in 25 years

By DANE SCHILLER

2007 Houston Chronicle

A car, a home, a gallon of milk — most everything costs more now than a generation ago. Except a baggie of Mexican marijuana.

Give or take a few dollars, authorities say, pot grown in Mexico and sold in Houston and other Texas cities still goes for about the same price as 25 years ago: $60 to $80 for an ounce.

In economic terms, marijuana is far cheaper since the decade when a three-bedroom home in upscale West University cost $150,000, a new ride was less than $6,000 and first lady Nancy Reagan urged kids to "Just Say No."

"I guarantee you it is probably cheaper than it was back in the day," said Lt. Gray Smith of the Houston police narcotics division. "Since I've been in the dope business, it has been pretty much the same," he said of prices during 20 years of monitoring sales.

Others agree.

"I don't care if you put 10 Marine divisions along the Mexican border, you are never going to be able to stop the movement of drugs, marijuana, across the border," said Mike Vigil, the Drug Enforcement Administration's former chief of international operations.

The problem is not only that the 2,000-mile-long border is huge, but also that the U.S. depends on people and commerce being able to freely flow in and out of the country.

"If you were to search everything, you'd have lines going back 100 miles," Vigil said.

Although rarely bestowed with the infamy or educational focus of other illegal substances, the dried, greenish-brown plant remains the most-used illicit drug in the United States, according to the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Seizures have climbed

An estimated 97 million Americans age 12 or older have smoked marijuana, according to the 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health. Among schoolkids, it is considered the leading drug problem after alcohol.

"The efforts to stop the flow of marijuana — despite cost and manpower involved — have failed," said Bruce Bagley, who studies illegal drugs for the University of Miami. "There is a surplus and an abundance of marijuana flowing into the United States."

Despite the emergence of fancy designer marijuana, most of the pot in the U.S. comes from Mexico.

Discussion about the marijuana market and attitudes about the drug comes as the White House recently announced disputable findings that there is a shortage of cocaine in many U.S. cities.

Drug czar John Walters portrayed a spike in cocaine prices during the first six months of 2007 as progress because a key drug-war goal is to squeeze supply and drive up prices to discourage use. DEA spokesman Steve Robertson said low marijuana prices, however, don't signal defeat.

"Every time we seize an amount of marijuana, no matter how small or large, that is a blow against these criminal organizations, and that deprives the organization of money. It is also one less opportunity for somebody to mess up their lives," he said.

According to a drug market analysis released earlier this year, federal, state and local police assigned within the Houston-based High Intensity Drug Trafficking area saw marijuana seizures climb from 85,582 pounds in 2005 to last year's haul of 191,000 pounds.

Based on the weight of a typical marijuana cigarette, enough marijuana to roll more than 171 million joints was taken out of commission in a 16-county area, including Houston and portions of the Texas Gulf Coast.

'A lot of customers'

"It is phenomenal," Robertson said of the amount of marijuana. "There is a lot of grass coming across the Southwest border, and we're seizing a lot, but the reason there is a lot is because there are a lot of customers."

Jorge Cervantes, who has a Web site on marijuana growing and is a columnist for High Times magazine, said governments worldwide know they can't snuff out drugs.

"They know there is no way they can win," said Cervantes, who spent part of last year visiting Mexican marijuana farms.

Marijuana can be bought for as little as $30 a pound in remote stretches of Mexico and can be sold for $500 in Houston, or for at least twice that amount when packaged in smaller user quantities, said David Gonzalez, a 26-year-old West Texan who ran a drug-trafficking organization started by his father and served prison time in Texas.

"Start breaking it up for high school kids or small-time consumers — a joint here, a joint there — you can make almost a thousand bucks off it," he said. "But the risk is greater. You have to peddle it on the street."

Mexican marijuana prices stay low because the major drug-trafficking cartels don't charge smaller players a fee to do business or smuggle through their turf, Gonzalez said. "You never hear of people getting killed over a few pounds of marijuana, but you do over a few ounces of cocaine. Marijuana is pretty much an open market. Nobody controls it, nobody wants to control it."

Some speculate that Mexican marijuana remains popular because many drug-using Americans are not willing to pay for more powerful and pricey plants grown in the United States. "Mexican marijuana is inferior. They have not innovated as much as the California hippies," said Bagley.

Price not indicative

Still, Mexican marijuana holds a steady place in the market because it is far cheaper than the U.S.-grown marijuana and is not as debilitating, especially for new users.

It might be like comparing bargain beer to Chivas Regal, an upscale Scotch whiskey.

Rosalie Pacula, a senior economist and co-director of the RAND Drug Policy Research Center, said that not much information is gathered on the price and potency of marijuana grown outside the United States because it's hard to draw conclusions from the prices.

"The dollar price on a bag of marijuana is not indicative of the value of the bag, as you must also know the quantity and potency of the marijuana inside to know its real price," she said. While figures could indicate law enforcement isn't impacting prices, she said, the market also changes.

Jon Gettman, an analyst and former national head of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, said marijuana prices could stay low because Texas is so close to an unlimited supply of the drug.

"Presumably Gulf Coast shrimp is cheaper in Houston than it is in Minnesota, and this is true for many commodities throughout the country and the world," he said.

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/front/5401314.html

[Empress of Groovy 373]

It looks like it's time to have a talk with my dealer...

[eric&gen 0]

Light it up 420 style.

[HAL 9000 96]

Coming by to read the "increased job opportunity for illegals going home" comment... nope, not here or not yet... phew!!

Some of these dealers need to start going to B-school in the States like the heads of the actual cartels do... then you'd see a decrease in demand on the Northern side of the border (more demand=higher prices). At least that would be the case for legal markets... but I won't go in that direction with my opinion!!!

[peejay 327]

Whoever wrote this article was definitely relying on heresay. In the early 1970's weed went for $10 / oz. for Mexican goat weed and $15 - $20 / oz. for more potent varieties in the Houston area. I remember pounds going for as low as $80 (but usually $100) for bricks of goat weed in those days.

I never was a doper, but I knew my way around town in my younger days.

The point? None. Just a FYI history lesson. It is true though...the prices jumped in the 1980's. Now-a-days I don't know my way around town and haven't a clue about things are today. For all I know the rest of the article may or may not be on target.

[vbtbmrt 2]

but think of all the money goverment is wasteing on trying to stop it from coming accross the border and think on how much money our goverment could make on taxes from allowing it to come across. they cant stop nothing that comes accross that border to much money and too many corrupt border patrol

[doodlebugg 10]

and think of how much violent crime would be stopped if they just legalized it nationally.

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

and think of how much violent crime would be stopped if they just legalized it nationally.

yup. w00t!!

[Nagishkaw 510]

Whoever wrote this article was definitely relying on heresay. In the early 1970's weed went for $10 / oz. for Mexican goat weed and $15 - $20 / oz. for more potent varieties in the Houston area. I remember pounds going for as low as $80 (but usually $100) for bricks of goat weed in those days.

I never was a doper, but I knew my way around town in my younger days.

The point? None. Just a FYI history lesson. It is true though...the prices jumped in the 1980's. Now-a-days I don't know my way around town and haven't a clue about things are today. For all I know the rest of the article may or may not be on target.

And that Dime Bag (oz.) was commonly called a ' Lid ' .

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

The top of the line hydro in Colorado was going for $375-$400/oz 5 years ago. I wasn't a smoker but had friends that did.

[Nagishkaw 510]

HIGHway robbery!

[Hilarious Clinton 452]

HIGHway robbery!

[Ban Hammer 14,271]

and think of how much violent crime would be stopped if they just legalized it nationally.

i'm failing to see the connection.....

[natty bumppo 297]

and think of how much violent crime would be stopped if they just legalized it nationally.

i'm failing to see the connection.....

I see a cottage industry growth ... and also home grown being popular

[doodlebugg 10]

and think of how much violent crime would be stopped if they just legalized it nationally.

i'm failing to see the connection.....

For real? Ok well here and now it's illegal right? Which means that people have to smuggle it in. Lots of crime right there since you have to be protected physically, i.e. guns, if you're gonna be in that kind of work. And since it's illegal it's not obviously sold in stores so you have to have some pretty unsavory characters willing to go against the law to sell it ... and they need protection, etc. etc.

If it were legal, people could just grow their own or at least buy it from a reputable farm or something and they wouldn't worry about dealing with people who may or may not be packin' heat, etc.

And the worst part about it is that a LOT of the people who use it don't do so to just get high, they do it because it's the only medicine their stomachs/systems can tolerate. . . . so they have to endanger themselves in order to get it unless they live in a state where they can get a medical marijuana card.