Jan 03, 2014
Photo courtesy of pauldzirvinskis.com
As the legalization of marijuana in Colorado begins to take effect, charges and cries of price gouging for the former “demon weed” are being heard throughout the “high country.”
That is to say that “hemp hunters” who stood in line for hours early Wednesday to be among the first to finally, legally purchase marijuana from approved state retailers were met with serious cases of sticker shock once they made it to the cash registers.
Rachel Gillette is the executive director of the Colorado chapter of NORML, a national nonprofit working to legalize marijuana nationwide. After the rollout (or roll-up) of first few sales, Gillette was quoted in the Denver Post thusly: “I think people were a little bit surprised at the price. … We are concerned about that.”
And well she should be. Gillette said she found retailers selling top-shelf marijuana at close to $400 per ounce, before taxes.
And even though medical marijuana has been available to users since 2010, they have not fared much better since total legalization. Colorado dispensaries are currently charging around $250 an ounce, plus taxes, she said.
These price spikes are occurring because the state’s new law is silent as to any pricing structure for purveyors of pot. This situation should warm “conservative” hearts everywhere because the cost of a good high in Colorado is now left totally to the tender mercies of “the market” – you know, that supply-and-demand dictum that all conservatives claim to love.
According to The Associated Press, one Denver dispensary was selling high-quality marijuana on Wednesday at $70 for one-eighth of an ounce – a markup from $25 for the same amount the day before things got all lawful and legal.
But Gillette and others are watching these events closely. She expects (hopes) that prices will soon stabilize. After all, she says, “It’s a new industry, a new market. I think things will work themselves out in a few years. We saw the same thing happen with the medical marijuana industry before prices came down.”