#firefarm

Both marijuana smokers and non-smokers recognize April 20 or 4/20 as a national holiday for cannabis culture, but few actually know how the date got chosen.

A primer on the cost of cannabis by volume: ounces, eighths, grams, and so on!

When it comes to bud, the choices at modern-day dispensaries are seemingly endless. Once you’ve dedicated some time to deciding what flower strain you’ll be bringing home, there’s also the matter of just how much of it you’ll need. 

Understanding how cannabis is portioned is an excellent way to feel more confident when making a purchase. Buy too much cannabis and it risks going stale. Buy too little and… well, who wants to imagine a fate that bleak? Instead, let’s go over all of the different options you’re likely to encounter when it comes to cannabis costs by weight. 

Note on Prices / Weights 

Prices noted below refer to expected cost at licensed, legal dispensaries. Expect prices on the unregulated market to vary wildly. It should also be noted that eighths, quarters, half-ounces, and ounces are all commonly-rounded to even numbers when sold but actually run to the thousandths place. For instance, an ounce of weed is technically 28.345 grams. We’ve all just agreed to be cool with 28 grams, so let’s go with it.

Ounces: The Holy Grail 

Okay, we’re starting large (but for good reason). Some cannabis consumers will not be interested in purchasing an ounce, but it’s important for anyone buying weed to understand the vital role ounces play in how we measure cannabis. 

An ounce — sometimes called a “zip” — is the equivalent of 28 grams, thus common measurements like an “eighth” or a “quarter” refer to a percentage of an ounce. Do the math and you’ll find that an eighth equates to 3.5 grams. A quarter, by extension, is then 7 grams.

For reference, pre-roll joints available at dispensaries often weigh either a gram or, in the case of “mini” joints, half of a gram. This means purchasing an ounce is the equivalent of buying 28 joints or 56 mini joints. Now that we have a baseline, let’s get into how the pricing for cannabis works.

What Does It All Cost? 

Grams

A gram of cannabis is likely to be the smallest quantity available for purchase at a dispensary. While some may feel that a gram is all they’re likely to need, the only true purpose for buying weed at a size this small is to “test” a strain you’re curious about before making a bigger commitment. Regardless, one should expect to pay between $5 and $15 for a gram. As we’ll see throughout this guide, it’s necessary to offer a range, as prices tend to be higher on the East Coast (where resources are far less abundant).

In the past, we’ve explained what a “dub” of weed means (a $20 purchase from the black market), as well as a “dime” of weed (a $10 purchase from the black market). Sometimes a dub or dime may equal a full gram, but that all depends on the person selling you bud under the table. If you go into a dispensary, asking for a “dub” might result in some blank stares from your budtender. 

Eighths 

If an eighth is 3.5 grams, and a gram costs between $5 and $15, what does an eighth cost? Do you feel an attack of standardized testing PTSD coming? Don’t worry, we’ve got the answer. By the logic above, eighths should cost between $17.50 and $46.50. That’s not exactly the range one should expect, but it’s not miles apart either. 

It’s probably safer to think of eighths as being in the $25 to $50 range. Anything less than $25 (not including discounts and sales etc.) and one should give some serious thought to the quality of the flower in question. For eighths priced in excess of $50 — of which there are many — feel free to ask a budtender what makes it so costly. It could be that you’re about to get something super rare and delicious, but it could also be a red flag that your dispensary is jacking their prices up.

Quarters 

Now we’re talking! If an eighth is the gold standard for a moderate cannabis consumer interested in trying different strains, a quarter (aka 7 grams) is like buying it at Costco. If you love a strain and don’t want to have to make a quick return visit to grab another eighth, a quarter is definitely the better way to go. Let’s continue on to see where the savings really start to add-up.

Half-Ounces & Ounces 

We’re going to group half-ounces and ounces together because the main talking point for both is the idea of savings. Half-ounces equate to 14 grams and often costs between $100 and $150, although there are definitely deals to be had at this quantity. For instance, Bay Area delivery service Eaze offers half-ounces of Old Pal for $50. That’s partially because Old Pal is pre-ground flower only suitable for joints. The point here is that anomalies to the cannabis price structure are anomalies for a reason.

Ounces, meanwhile, equal 28 grams and are priced anywhere from $100 to $300. Many dispensaries offer deals on ounces, which accounts for the lower end of this range. In any case, if the quantity isn’t overwhelming, there’s no question that your wallet will thank you for buying in bulk.

Now hopefully your next dispensary trip will be easier to navigate, sans-confusion. But when in doubt, ask your budtender questions! They’re there to help. And, oh yeah, you can and should leave your scale at home — the dispensary won’t short you on a purchase! Happy toking, y’all. 

There's a reason—actually, a few—and none of them are very flattering to American politicians.

Whenever Matt Culley travels to England, he feels as if he has entered a sort of Twilight Zone.

A prominent vaping advocate on YouTube in the United States, Culley went so far as to describe the scene in the United Kingdom, where he often attends conferences, as a sort of "alternate reality."

Imagine: You're visiting a loved one in the hospital, and after popping into the cafeteria to eat a premade bologna sandwich or Jell-o, you're jonesing for a cigarette. Smoking, however, has been prohibited in or around the place—even in your car. You're out of e-juice, too. But that's not a problem: You're at the hospital, after all, and you can just run into the vape shop attached to it.

That scenario may sound absurd, but it's plausible in England, where, in July, Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals actually agreed to allow a vape company to open stores on their property. The hope was that it would discourage people from smoking cigarettes outside.

"Meanwhile, in the U.S., now you have people going to vape shops and telling the owners that they're killing people," Culley said. "It's crazy."

Although experts canvassed by VICE acknowledged the U.K. is in no way immune to nicotine-related health problems, the American vaping crisis that has produced at least 1,000 cases of illness and roughly two-dozen deaths is pretty much nonexistent over there. There also appears to be far less official concern that vaping is a gateway drug sucking otherwise uninterested teens into a lifetime of nicotine use. Without lobbyists killing oversight and 1990s-style drug war hysteria hamstringing policy, U.K. officials have produced a piecemeal regulatory system that carefully monitors nicotine levels in vape products.

The stark contrast has American harm-reduction advocates and their counterparts across the pond touting the U.K.'s measured approach to vaping as more logical than the full-throttle panic in Washington and state capitals across the country. The only problem is American institutions seem ill-equipped to emulate it.

"I think the difference between the U.K. and the U.S. are due to the American propensity to turn health issues into moral crusades," said Brad Rodu, a professor of medicine at the University of Louisville and an expert in tobacco-addiction harm-reduction, who also noted that another big issue is the bureaucratic mess in obtaining funding for research in the States. "It appears that policymakers in the U.S. are either completely ignorant of the history of tobacco, or completely ignore it."

No more rolling joints in the bathroom or sneaking to the backyard for a sly puff—now that cannabis is legal in Canada, you can go ahead and share it with the same care and attention you’d give to a cheese board, a charcuterie platter, or a selection of spirits. Call it what you want: a rolling station, a cannabis cabana, or first stop on the fun train, but a weed board is exactly what you think it is—a selection of cannabis products presented for sharing.

Below you’ll find suggestions for tailoring your weed board to different types of parties, but first, some general advice:

Variety is key

The same strategy that makes for a stellar cheese board or a bang-up cocktail bar applies here—offer a variety of options so guests can choose their own adventures according to preference, tolerance, and intention.

Consider ‘the rule of three’

There’s a concept among writers called ‘the rule of three’, the idea being that three characters are better than two. Jack and Janet need Chrissy to make the company, and there’s no magic to Harry and Ron without Hermione, or so it goes.

What is a party but a story waiting to be told? Cast yours well by offering a minimum of three choices. You can’t go wrong with one high-THC product, one balanced or 1:1 option, and a low-to-no THC or microdose option.

Accessories help

Just as a selection of cheese demands tiny knives and crackers, an array of weed needs tools for processing and consuming. Which accessories you should present depends on the cannabis you’ll be serving, but it’s not rocket science: if you’re offering a selection of pre-rolls, put out an ashtray and lighters, or hemp wicks if you’re feeling fancy. If you prefer to supply buds, then a rolling surface, grinders, papers or pipes, and tools to help pack and prepare the pot will be appreciated. Serving infused pudding? Spoons and serviettes, please.

Crime rates in Colorado and Washington didn't change after legalizing adult-use cannabis, proving that the supposed link between weed and violent crime is yet another prohibitionist myth.

A rigorous new research study has confirmed prior research findings: Cannabis legalization is not linked to an increase in violent crime, as prohibitionists often claim.

The study, conducted by researchers from Washington State University, Stockton University in New Jersey, and the University of Utah, examined 20 years worth of FBI crime statistics to determine whether violent crimes increased in states that legalized weed compared to states that did not. The results of this research, which was funded by a grant from the National Institute of Justice, were recently published in Justice Quarterly, a publication of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences.

“As the nationwide debate about legalization, the federal classification of cannabis under the Controlled Substances Act, and the consequences of legalization for crime continues, it is essential to center that discussion on studies that use contextualized and robust research designs with as few limitations as possible,” said Dale W. Willits, assistant professor of criminal justice and criminology at WSU and co-author of the study, according to Mirage News. 

A recent Brightfield Group report suggests that the hemp-derived CBD market could be worth $23 billion by 2023.

The hemp-derived CBD market could be worth $23 billion by 2023, which works out to about $40,000 per acre at the farm level, according to a Brightfield Group report outlined by Successful Farming. In the Hemp Cultivation Landscape study, analysts estimate that 285,000 acres of industrial hemp was cultivated in the U.S. this year — an increase of 72 percent from last year.

The report suggests that about 87 percent of hemp acreage will be used for CBD processing this year, while they expect that share to drop to 82 percent by 2023. In all, the researchers anticipate 2.7 million planted acres of hemp by 2023.  

Researchers found that Colorado is growing the most hemp in the U.S. with an estimated 42,500 acres. Colorado is followed followed by Oregon (29,859), Montana (29,400), Tennessee (20,000), and Arizona (18,000). By 2023, the report maintains Colorado and Oregon in the top spots, with an estimated 313,059 acres and 275,357 acres, respectively. California would rank third (252,487), followed by Arizona (243,786) and Tennessee (243,786).