A Thai outlet in Marijuanaville?

Bangkok Post ^ | 05/27/2013 | Alan Dawson

[TexGrill]

The following advertisement, paraphrased for brevity, is currently running in the US state of Colorado, and in slightly edited form across the entire United States: "Needed urgently, 64 tonnes of marijuana, FOB payment $84.48 million, completely legal, opportunity to build business 50-fold."

The question is whether Thailand should answer the advert, and further, should Thailand sue the United States at the World Trade Organisation when Washington gets all huffy that another country's farmers and traders are trying to horn in on its developing drug trade.

The US movement to legalise "recreational" drugs is well under way. The states of Colorado and Washington specifically voted to legalise both the trafficking and unrestricted use of marijuana last November. Drug peddling will be kept under government supervision, officials state optimistically.

The "advertisement" above for a wholesale source of marijuana comes from a paper on the financial impact of legalising the drug by Colorado State University in Fort Collins. The numbers are interesting.

When marijuana peddlers open their shops for business next year, it figures that around 40% of people aged from 18-25 will "toke up", but only about 12% of all other adults.

They will need 2,394,428 ounces of weed (64.46 metric tonnes to be more exact than the advertisement). Expect a 200% mark-up by the drug dealers, so customers will spend for ganja _ including state tax, sales tax, "special" dope-dealing tax and excise tax _ US$6,510, or about 196,000 baht, per kilogramme. In other familiar units, that is $407 (12,250 baht) per ounce, or $14.36 (432 baht) per gramme.

That is quite a profit margin for the middlemen in this drug market. Colorado marijuana dealers, including the government, will pay $84.48 million for the bulk purchase of the pot, and then rake in $419.6 million.

[TexGrill]

No joke: Asian criminal gangs are preparing to set up legal pot shops in Colorado. Let me guess they'll be voting for the Democrats when Obama signs a new immigration bill into law.

[cripplecreek]

And they’ll fight it out with the Mexican Cartels.

[muir_redwoods]

No problem, I understand our government is getting ready to declare a war on drugs.

[Neidermeyer]

Those prices are insane ,, word is that Mexican weed sells for $600 or so per pound (or maybe kilo??) delivered to the US side.

If this is to be done properly I could supply all of that with a bit of upfront money ... and most of that would be for security. 10 acres is all you’d need,, irrigation ,, double chain link fencing...