Beyond Chronic I ran across the name John Novak this morning, and saw that he ran a site with the intriguing name of 420 Leaks, so I decided to look it up. Mr. Novak seems to be a lot like me in that he loves to pore through old information and records, finding fascinating tidbits that are useful for medical and legal arguments supporting cannabis.
So I started reading through some of his recent articles, and found this great article about the pre-1937 medicinal cannabis market. It quotes a U.S. Department of Agriculture farmer’s bulletin which gives some great hints for growing cannabis plants on a farm, describes how to properly process them for use in the drug market (!), and concludes with the fact that “The market price in January, 1927, for domestic cannabis (U.S.P.) was 23 to 33 cents a pound”. This was the fair, open market price before all the “reefer madness” hysteria we all know so well, so it’s untainted by ideology.
So I said to myself, “Something something inflation” and used the Federal government’s own inflation calculator to find that, at 33 cents a pound, primo cannabis intended for the “drug market” would cost $4.44 a pound today:
I’ve been saying for years that legal marijuana should cost about as much as oregano, and so there goes your proof.
By the way, Mr. Novak, if you read this, please check out some of our own historical articles:
- Discovered: Legal Precedent For Medical Marijuana At the Federal Level
- Marijuana Was Legal At the Federal Level In The Sixties
http://beyondchronic.com/2013/09/legal-marijuana-cost-4-44-pound/
And this golden oldie:
Unkle Shmeul shows us how to grow your own!
U.S. Department of Agriculture
Farmers’ Bulletin No. 663
Drug Plants Under Cultivation
Washington, D.C.
Issued June, 1915
Revised April, 1927
U.S. Government Printing Office: 1929
By W. W. Stockberger, Senior Physiologist in Charge, Drug, Poisonous, and Oil Plants, Bureau of Plant Industry
From the section titled, “THE CULTIVATION AND HANDLING OF DRUG PLANTS”, pp. 16-17.
CANNABIS
The drug cannabis (Cannabis sativa) consists of the dried flowering tops of the female plants. The plant grows well over a considerable portion of the United States, but the production of the active principle is believed to be favored by a warm climate. For drug purposes, therefore, this crop appears to be adapted to the Southern rather than to the Northern States.
Cannabis is propagated from seeds, which should be planted in the spring as soon as conditions are suitable, in well-prepared sandy or clayey loam, at a depth of about an inch in rows 5 or 6 feet apart. The seeds may be dropped every 2 or 3 inches in the row or planted in hills about a foot apart in the row, 6 to 10 seeds being dropped into each hill. Two or three pounds of seed per acre should give a good stand. About half the seeds will produce male plants, which must be removed before their flowers mature, otherwise, the female plants will set seed, thereby diminishing their value as a drug. The male plants can be recognized with certainty only by the presence of stamens in their flowers.
Ordinary stable or barnyard manure plowed in deeply is better for use as a fertilizer than commercial preparations and may be safely applied at the rate of 20 tons per acre. Good results may be obtained, however, with commercial fertilizers, such as are used for truck crops and potatoes, when cultivated in between the rows at the rate of 500 or 600 pounds per acre.
When the female plants reach maturity a sticky resin forms on the heavy, compact flower clusters, and harvesting may then be begun. The tops of the plants comprising the flower clusters are cut and carefully dried in the shade to preserve the green color as far as possible. Drying can best be done, especially in damp weather, by the use of artificial heat, not to exceed 140° F.
For several years cannabis of standard (U.S.P.) quality has been grown on a commercial scale in this country, chiefly in South Carolina and Virginia. After the flowering tops are harvested they are thoroughly dried under cover, then worked over by hand, and all the stems and large foliage leaves removed. This process gives a drug of high quality but greatly reduces the net or marketable yield per acre, which usually ranges from 350 to 400 pounds. Some growers do not remove the stems and leaves, thus increasing the acreage yield but reducing the market value of their product. The quality of cannabis can be determined only by special laboratory tests, which most dealers are not equipped to make; and consequently, they are usually unwilling to pay growers as high prices as they would if the low-grade cannabis were kept off the market.
The market price in January, 1927, for domestic cannabis (U.S.P.) was 23 to 33 cents a pound.
Very good article Rums – yea rums, you knew that I could not resist a reply to this article 🙂 LOL.Ya know, when I moved to my area now back in 1981 a guy could get a heavy 1/4 lb. of real good columbian red bud for $30. – $35., for a heavy 1/4 lb. . A complete stranger could find one for $40 – $45 a 1/4 lb. Now look at the damned prices, 1/8 for $60. – $80. , for a damned 1/8 oz – ya know 3 1/2 grams. and it will only lasst maybe for a day and a half if lucky with only personal smoking.
Well, then with the Walmart prescription plan you could get it for $4.00 even. hahaha
LOL!
I figured our favorite farmer would like a copy of the out of print USDA guide!
Yea, I am going to read it when I get done with my chores.
Kind of made me think back to the days of 6 finger bags for $10
And we all pissed & moaned about the price back then!
I know youngsters that refuse to believe me when I tell them that a dub of dank costs more today than a qp of Panama then.
Cest la vie.
If industrial hemp were legal, we’d be paying 10 cents a gallon for gas too.
Of course, the so-called ‘government’ would then tax it at $10 an ounce or more.
To make up for their illegal street sales losses.
As much as I’m against that “sin” tax it wouldn’t be the end of the world. Us partakers would still be getting a better deal than we do now. Remember $4.44 per POUND.
OK, thats about $0.25 per ounce, so even if we had to pay a $10 per ounce tax it’s still less than $15 an ounce!
WIN-WIN!
I`ll toke to that:) . Still too much though. It still should be free to grow and to use as seen fit to the person useing it 🙂 .
Digger, I willingly pay as much as $10/feminized seed. Grow most of my own and will continue doing so. Although I’m currently working on my own strain of Papaya/Sour Diesel (so far very low to non-existant odor in the growing room) and hope to have seeds to share by spring. Then I’ll maybe quit buying seeds! I know, I’m crazy for growing male plants! I want to produce all my own and never buy any! Sure I’d consider bartering mine for somebody elses but I want to end cash transactions and consume free.
We will have to talk in a few days, preferable after the first ya know. Got some questions for ya. nothing serious buddy. 🙂 By the way there rums, just remember that you have got to have a decent male and a decent female to get your seed stock going. I`ll talk to ya in a few days rums. 🙂