toobfreak
Tungsten/Glass Member
Here in Oregon we have dispensaries all over. Each one carries a large variety of weed strains, all lab tested for THC and CBD. Good quality stuff. Why go to a black market dealer like the old days and pay for whatever he happens to have when you can go to a legal store and get a variety of choices at known quality and quantity? Prices are very reasonable too. About the same price but without the risks.Even if you have a medical card, why wouldn't you stop by at the local pusher's crib and save money?When you are in a recreational state the prices are competitive
My only two thoughts on that:
- Why does weed need to be "lab tested" adding to the overhead? I can look at a bud, give it a sniff and tell you if its good. Still not sure? One toke of a 5mm crumb and I'll tell you all you want to know about the quality and content. Even the strain and type of THC.
- What is this about a "legal" store---- if pot's legalized for sale and use in a state how can a street dealer be "illegal" or unsafe. Again, anyone worth his salt knows what they are buying just by a look and a sniff. I just don't see what risks there are buying off a street guy especially if what he has is good and cheaper. I'd much prefer to buy real weed grown under the actual Sun, wind and rain outdoors than something grown indoors artificially needing a stick to hold it up.
I'm not opposed to quality standards. I know that sounds ridiculous considering I've spent the past 50 years buying uncertified weed from street dealers, but I consider this a benefit of legalization. And quite frankly, dispensarys don't even let you see their weed, much less sniff it. It's all wrapped, boxed, bottled, and sealed up in "stink proof" wrappings.
The legalization of pot means that the sale is taxed, and that the vendor has paid government sales and income taxes on the sale, just as the seals on liquor bottles also certify. I'm happy with an underground economy being taxed.
Legalization hasn't really reduced pot prices in the City. When I walked into our favourite big city dispensary in Hamilton, it was in a major retail mall with big rents, in an upscale neighbourhood with other mall tenants including a major grocery store, and and directly across the parking lot roadway street from the government owned liquor store.
The interior was bright and glossy, designer look, and there was a lot of staff to assist you. Minimum wage in the province is $14 /hr. My first thought was "overhead through the roof"!!! The pot was so overpackaged. Mine came in a plastic bottle - like a large, open mouth asprin container, which was then placed in a cardboard box by the grower, and the stored placed this in a paper bag, all of which ended up in the recycling. Their prices were no different from the expensive street dealer I bought from in Toronto, except for the same price, he delivered it to my house. I didn't have to drive 40 miles to pick it up.
Our small town dispensary - also located directly across the road from our local, government owned liquor store, is much lower rents. It features a more rustic interior, with refurbished, not brand new, furnishings, and never more than 4 staffers, including the greeter/ID checker at the front door. Their pot is packaged in printed white plastic bags, by the grower - cheapest packaging available. Their prices are half that of the fancy, big city store. My favourite Pink Kush sells for $130/ounce as opposed to $300 from my Toronto Dealer, or the $224 from the big city dispensary.
But best of all, I can now legally grow up to 4 plants for my personal use. What this means, is that if the little neighbourhood shits sneaks into my yard at night and steals my plants, I can call the police and have the little wastes of skin, arrested. Our town FaceBook page was filled with videos of the young local assholes stealing plants out of backyards, taken by their neighbours' surveillance cameras. Young local assholes are no longer breaking into cars or backyards. Win/Win
I can't fault any of that thinking. However, if I ever get the chance to buy weed again, legally in my state, I still hope it is like the local herb shop selling goldenseal, where I can just take the lid off a big glass container, look inside, enjoy the smell, see and select what I'm buying, then dig in with a big scoop and shovel big handfuls of the sweet bud into my giant bag spilling some on the floor as I go---- an ounce or a 1/4 pound---- wrap it up, zip the bag shut and walk home with a smile.
Cannabis was meant to be gone through much like a Holley 850 Double-Pumper goes through gas.
The idea of buying weed in little plastic containers replete with commercial packaging is offensive to me. It's a fucking WEED, it grows like A WEED, and I'm under no allusions that this is any kind of highfalutin "medicine" for anything other than my mind.

From God to man (or woman).