Marijuana prices have plummeted since December
David McNew/Getty Images
There's an index for the price of just about every commodity, from gold and frozen concentrated orange juice futures (FCOJ) to more media-friendly consumer metrics like the Thanksgiving Dinner Cost index and the Big Mac Index. Especially now that marijuana is legal in Colorado and Washington, it makes sense there's an index for the price of pot, too — and that it is compiled by High Times magazine.
What the March numbers in the index — the Trans-High Market Quotations (THMQ) — show is that marijuana prices are dropping. Not uniformly — as this chart below shows, both high-end and low-end weed have remained pretty steady since Colorado and Washington approved legal marijuana in the 2012 election — but the broader U.S. price index started dropping in December 2013. The March price of $286 an ounce is a record low in High Times' index. High Times doesn't speculate as to why prices are dropping, but the big marijuana event in January was Colorado beginning to allow legal sales of pot for non-medicinal purposes. Colorado is the yellow line below.
If legal marijuana does cause price drops like this, it will be a mixed bag. On the one hand, cheap marijuana will encourage more use of the drug, which will probably have some adverse public health costs. Less expensive weed also means lower tax revenue in Colorado and, soon, Washington. On the other hand, one of the great promises of legal marijuana is that it will undercut illegal sales, especially from cross-border smuggling by Mexican drug cartels. Maybe that's why they're switching to meth and heroin.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
DOJ settles with Nassar victims for $138M
Speed Read The settlement includes 139 sexual abuse victims of the former USA Gymnastics doctor
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
14 recent scientific breakthroughs
In Depth From photos of the infant universe to an energy advancement that could save the planet
By Devika Rao, The Week US Published
-
Who will win the 2024 presidential election?
In Depth Election year is here. Who are pollsters and experts predicting to win the White House?
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Puffed rice and yoga: inside the collapsed tunnel where Indian workers await rescue
Speed Read Workers trapped in collapsed tunnel are suffering from dysentery and anxiety over their rescue
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
More than 2,000 dead following massive earthquake in Morocco
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Mexico's next president will almost certainly be its 1st female president
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
North Korea's Kim to visit Putin in eastern Russia to discuss arms sales for Ukraine war, U.S. says
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Gabon's military leader sworn in following coup in latest African uprising
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
Nobody seems surprised Wagner's Prigozhin died under suspicious circumstances
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published
-
Western mountain climbers allegedly left Pakistani porter to die on K2
Speed Read
By Justin Klawans Published
-
'Circular saw blades' divide controversial Rio Grande buoys installed by Texas governor
Speed Read
By Peter Weber Published