MonarchX

Currently cigarettes have a crapload of additives in them, such as ammonia and menthol cigarettes have fiberglass that cuts your throat and increases nicotine absorption but greatly increases risk of cancer. Tobacco in cigarettes is not in a pure form.

If marijuana becomes legal one day, and companies will be allowed to sell it in stores just like cigarettes then what is going to prevent them from adding same crap to marijuana?

Also, would legalization lead to lower or higher prices or lower prices for the same MJ amount that is now sold by dealers (on average)?

Trocisp

Legalization would lower price, dramatically.

The only reason it costs 120 dollars for an ounce of Marijuana currently is because of the risk factors. It's very similar to the plant Cat Nip comes from, but Cat Nip is about 1.20 for an ounce. (120 dollars, 1.20 dollars? Anyone? )

It wouldn't really lead to "dirty" weed, per se, it might allow that - but there would be "natural" brands, just like there are food brands.

Kashi makes natural food, I'm sure a similar company would spring up with Natural Marijuana.

Buzzby

That sounds like an urban myth to me - something that the government regulators would never allow.

Producing quality bud requires a lot more hand work than producing catnip, but there's really no reason it should cost more than $10 - $20 an ounce.

With catnip, all you need to do is strip off the leaves and leave them in a warm, dry place to get rid of the moisture.

Bud needs to be hung under controlled atmospheric conditions so that it will dry slowly. Then the buds need to be "manicured" - all of the leaves sticking out of the buds need to be trimmed off. This is a painstaking manual process. Finally, to reach full flavor and potency, bud must be cured over a period of several weeks or months, which requires frequent handling of the product.

Producing quality bud is somewhat more complicated than producing quality tobacco, but tobacco is much more disease- and pest-prone. A major difference is that it's not practical for most people to grow their own tobacco. (Even with cigs costing $4.50 a pack, I haven't heard of anyone growing their own tobacco.) Pricing of weed will have to take into account that if the price is too high, people will simply grow their own. That puts a cap on what the market will bear. I'd probably grow my own just for the fun of it, the same reason I grow my own tomatoes, potatos, peas, beans, lettuce, and zucchini.

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MasterCylinder

I'm sure that weed could be mass produced and machines could very easily "manicure" the weed. Its all about letting big business get their hands on it and run with it.
If you research how tobacco is processed, you'll see that weed could easily fit in the same form as tobacco. Tobacco is cured in the same manner as weed is. Its not dried out but rather cured to maintain a certain level of moisture. The plant produces various qualities of tobacco depending on the location of the leaves and those different leaves result in different pricing for the tobacco.
Your current cigarettes don't come from a single plant but rather, they are blended with various types of tobacco.

Darkflan

I have heard that it is extremely hard to get a hold of tobacco seeds and the cigarette companies pay alot of money to keep it that way. Im sure they fund state governments to make tobacco cultivation a restricted thing that you'll need a license grow. If only cigarette smokers could grow their own. They would receive a much more cleaner smoke without all the additives that come in what is sold. This is just what I have heard

But, back on topic I think he price would go down. Hopefully the corporations wont nicotine our weed Buy organic

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[darkflan] Old friend from a printshop I work at, he owns his own business now and was talking about hiring me
[darkflan] then i asked him if he knew where to get some good buds

MasterCylinder

Cigarettes would suck without the blended mixture of the different toboco strains they add now. BTW...you can grow your own tobacco. Do a google search and you'll find a bunch of tobacco seed sellers but why bother when the cigarette companies can turn out a "better" product?

Darkflan

Thanks for clearing that up. I wasn't exactly sure. I don't smoke cig's anyways. None of it taste good I think. Pipe Tobacco on the other hand. Yummy.

Buzzby

Somebody's been feeding you a load of crap. Try Googling on "tobacco seeds".

Why are you sure of something that isn't true? You can grow and use all of the tobacco you please. You can't sell it without paying federal and state taxes.

They can. Few people do, just as there are few who roll their own cigarettes when hand-rolls cost a third of ready-mades. You can also make your own beer and wine, up to 200 gallons a year per household. Few do that, either.

Jake

Ever been to New Jersey? Packs of smokes cost $6, and a lot of people are walking around rolling cigarettes. You can get about two ounces for $7.

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Jake

As others have said, sure you could pick up a pack of Marlboro Joints, or pick up whatever Lorrilard Tobacco puts out. But there will always be "American Spirit" types of companies. Especially in these eco-aware and health-conscious times, the market will allow all-natural cannabis to be produced. In fact, the demand for all-natural marijuana will probably be a lot higher than the demand for all-natural tobacco. Being all-natural is one the biggest selling points of cannabis. I wouldn't even be surprised if Marlboro doesn't even add additives, just because of how popular the all-natural label is.