Quote Originally Posted by starter09
Like most newbie license holders I was initially ecstatic. Ya mean I can buy shit legally???? Suddenly, shopping became interesting, so many dispensaries, so many strains.

Kids in candy stores seldom think about price but I'm a retiree on a small, fixed income so eventually I started noticing that $60 an eighth adds up real fast.

Ecstasy switched to indignation. Why does this cost so much if it's legal? It's a weed, for decades we've been told how easy it is to grow. More importantly, no one can grow legally unless they have patients - it is my license, my plants, not the grower or dispensary owner's.

So I started looking around for a caregiver who knew what they were doing.

Lots of not-so-good choices. 10% discount on dispensary prices seemed most common. I found better, eventually - but even that deal, at it's best, will only provide me with 1/4 of my need.

There's pushback from some growers/caregivers too, claiming that we don't have a clue how much it costs to grow or what a reasonable harvest is. They're right; I don't know what the real costs of growing are.

Seems to me the people who would really know this are long-time growers, but they've been illegal for so long that coming out isn't gonna happen any time soon.

I found this today on cl. I think it's a good starting point for a real discussion, even though there's no sources given for any of the numbers.

I hope anyone with knowledge of any part of this would comment.


Caregiver initial investment in a commercial grow space to grow plants for 16 patients including lights, ventilation, propagation, genetics, construction, re-wiring, etc:............ $30,000

Monthly rent/least on commercial space, about 1000 ftsq:..................$1200

Business Licenses, legal consultation, business plan :.............$2000

Expenses to pay labor during harvest/trim (monthly):....................$1000 or trade medicine

Monthly electricity, maintenance,etc:.................................. ............$1000

So, that's a $32,000 initial investment with about $3200/month in expenses (monthly expenses are estimated HIGH to give you room to economize in the future) so your first year would cost you about $66,000.

This gives you the ability to grow for 16 patients or about 96 plants with no more than 48 being mature. i.e if you had two 6-month cycles(yes you can have more but for simplicity of this argument we'll consider 2 harvests) as a professional you should harvest anywhere between, 50 and 100lbs of top quality medicinal cannabis per year. If you can't do this then GET OUT OF THE BUSINESS and stop whining.

So here's the nugget: using just the low end, 50lbs, which is 800 ounces. If you sold your medicine for $250/ounce (about $150 less than dispensaries) that's $200,000 in your first year, minus your start up costs and you make a profit of $134,000 and year two would not have the $32,000 initial investment as you already recovered that so your profit goes UP!!! We've not even touched upon the fact that you'll have the same weight in leaf/trim that you can turn into edible cannabis, hash, kief, etc which all commands a much higher retail price.

THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE JUST ASK QUESTIONS!!!


The yield assumption is what, about a half pound per plant on his low end? That's important because we're talking about profits here, I think growers are entitled to make money at what they do but they ain't Wall Street bankers.

Real simple stuff here. What we pay - what it costs per oz to grow = profit.

On my plants.

Still got some indignation, yessir.

Learning to grow my own I am, small apartment or not.
ROFLMAO 1/2 LB PER PLANT 75+% of grower don't hit that.most don't have big setups like this.most are happy if they get 2 oz's per plant.yes i can see you don't know much about growing but you will soon find out from what your saying.and to get 1/2 lb per plant it takes some veg time.like this if you want to get close to 1/2lb per plant you need to train your plant just growing a str8 up plant not gunna work.it is a full job depending on your setup even then it's alot of work.alil closet setup with floro's or cfl will grow stuff but you will see.

growing for yourself will give you 3 plants at a time to flower. so at the very least it will take you 2 months per cycle just to flower so if u have the right setup "2 rooms" you could go str8 flower each time.depending on how long/big u veg them too will depend on yeild.so lets just say your on every 2 months.to get a lb you would need to veg to atleast 15 or so inches with training. and if the rest of your ducks are in a row u might get the lb. atleast a 1k light setup as well.yes 600 will work but..well never mind u will see.so 1 k + pumps,fans,nutes,water,your time.......do i think 60 an 1/8th is abit much?

yea but thats whats gunna happen going to a shop.someone like myself lets it go for 250 an oz that breaks down to around 31 an 1/8th.do you think that is a rip off? so lets say the grower says no less than 250,for some odd reason people like yourself for some reason think thats a rip off and instead go to a shop and pay double and then bitch about it?i see it all the time everyday.im thinking to myself i just told this guy 250 all day long and he acts like i should give him an oz a month free and sell it to them at 125 each.so if i won't do that they would rather go to a shop"the same place i vendor to since i don't have patients btw".then that same person goes and instead of 250 an oz the end up paying double.

these patients make no sense at all if the grower won't give over oz's per month + cut prices to next to nothing then the peeps would rather go to a shop and then bitch about it.makes no sense.

i'll ask ya this forget all the expenses what is your time worth to you?on top of that everybody that grows is just as hurt as you if not more.atleast they should be as in order to even get the card like i did i had to give 3 years of doc notes ct's mri's so on to get mine.so it's not like the grower is just sum young buck that can run for hours on end no prob.

lets not forget leo still has a hard on for ya too,they find out u grow or nosey peeps next door call in on ya can be just as if it was illegal still.believe me when i say leo does not like you infact they think your scum.then we have the punk thugs that go around all day just sniffing the air to find a grow to go rob.

bottom line is very simple if someone wants to charge 60 an 18/th they have every right to as there is alot more to it than it's easy it's just a weed just throw the seeds where ever and in a few days you have top notch dank meds.far from it but you will see....