US pot growers pose threat to Mexican cartels

[keep_it_real]

Let's legalize it, tax it and get this party started; it's 2009. Time America moved into the 21st century:

Almost all of the marijuana consumed in the multi billion-dollar US market once came from Mexico or Colombia. Now as much as half is produced domestically, often by small-scale operators who painstakingly tend greenhouses and indoor gardens to produce the more potent, and expensive, product that consumers now demand, authorities and marijuana dealers on both sides of the border say.

Mexico produced an estimated 15,000 tonnes of marijuana last year. On a hidden hilltop field in Sinaloa state, reachable by donkey, a pound (450 grams) of pot might earn a farmer $US25 ($27.50). The wholesale price for the same pound in Phoenix, Arizona, is $US550, and so the Mexican cartels could be selling $US20 billion worth of marijuana in the US market each year. <20 billion to tax and help the cities and states in eduction and property taxes>

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/world/us-pot-growers-pose-threat-to-mexican-cartels-20091011-gseo.html

[Rick Myers]

1. $550 for a pound in Phoenix???

See ya soon!!! No way...

[keep_it_real]

11. Is that a good price or a bad price? From you experience?

[WeDidIt]

14. Wholesale for Mexican schwag?

If you're buying in large enough quantities (five pounds or more), absolutely.

Cheaper if you're buying at least 20 pounds, you coukld probably get it cheaper.

[BolivarianHero]

15. I'm Canadian, and I'd say very good...

But I doubt it's the hydro I've tried in my neck of the woods.

[vadawg]

2. i wonder how the cartels will react, thats a lot of money they will lose

i expect to see some mom and pop growers turning up kinda dead if it takes to much from them....

[AdHocSolver]

3. We can have competition in marijuana sales, but not in health insurance. What a country. n/t

[aquart]

5. Anyone here object to a public option in marijuana?

Grow it yourself and keep all you grow? Or set up a booth at the local farmers market?

[keep_it_real]

9. Or set up a booth at the local farmers market?

f u n n y

[Monk06]

4. Well you get what you pray for ...........

[Old Vet]

12. you can taste it,

just looking at it.ohhhhhhhhhhhh

[Monk06]

13. And the picture's dang purty too ......

Back in the day (1991) A bud-y of mine bought the
earliest generation of BC Bud. It was 105th generation
descendant of the original sensimilla.

The bud was gray like sage or Earl Grey tea.

That was because of the bud was covered in resin.

We scraped off the resin and put it aside. Then
we smoked the bud, then piped the resin like crack.

Sweet, like Afghan blonde hash from the 70's. Very
mellow, deep and friendly.

[kenny blankenship]

6. I'm sick and tired of them exporting US drug lords' jobs down to Mexico!

Build a wall!

[treestar]

7. Using that cheap labor to make profits!

[HysteryDiagnosis]

8. We should grow it here and sell it there... tit for tat. n/t

[keep_it_real]

10. And how much in taxes could we take in for cities and states?

We might be able to turn around the U.S. economy with the tax income.

[Brigid]

16. I hear that some of the best weed in the world . . .

is grown in the Appalachains. Soil and climate conditions are ideal for it. A bit of History Channel trivia. :)

[msongs]

17. people should be allowed to grow their own for personal use...get rid of US/Mexican criminals...

entirely. I can grow zucchini and tomatoes, why not pot? (disclaimer - not a pot user). Get rid of criminals completely. Oh, the cops/courts/prison union would lose jobs, cannot have that can we?

Msongs