Drug Traffic: Where Does Pot Come From: Domestic Growers Or Mexican Cartels?

Where Does Pot Come From: Domestic Growers Or Mexican Cartels? | Fronteras: "“There has never been a time where it has been this easy to get access to high quality marijuana,” said Beau Kilmer, the co-director of the Drug Policy Research Center at the Rand Corporation in Los Angeles, a public policy think tank.

That availability seems to be a result of the rising medical marijuana industry in California and more people growing domestically. A few years ago a pound of pretty high end Northern California weed at wholesale price went for about $3500, now the price has fallen to about $2500 (though street prices have remained constant).

But Kilmer’s research shows high quality marijuana remains a small part of the national market. “The large majority of the country still is consuming commercial grade marijuana, not the high quality stuff,” Kilmer said.

In fact, at least 80 percent of the marijuana smoked in the US is commercial grade, according to Kilmer’s estimates. It costs just a fraction of the nice stuff coming out of the Emerald Triangle and is likely less potent. And where does that commercial grade pot come from?

Kilmer says a large chunk is imported from Mexico."