South Africa and drought, drought and South Africa – we have all heard these words paired together often enough to know we’re in the midst of a rather dire situation.
What we haven’t seen much coverage of is how these droughts are affecting South Africa’s marijuana supply, something that will send shivers down the spines of habitual smokers across the country.
The folks over at BTL have outlined just how dry that supply may become:
Thanks to a record level drought, one of the few things Zuma can’t be blamed for, we are experiencing huge increases in food prices across the board. As a massive local perennial crop, cannabis has not been immune to this. Word on the ground is that plantations that would usually be full of plants a couple of meters [sic] tall and oozing with buds now bare feeble resemblance to the dank valleys that they once so densely occupied. “I was out in the fields a few weeks ago and couldn’t believe my eyes. Usually the plants are towering over me with barely enough room to walk between them. Instead they were mostly knee height and had gone through some fucked up re-vegging”. With heatwave after heatwave causing abnormal plant growth and large scale water shortages greatly restricting any hope of many growers still pulling off a decent harvest, growers and consumers alike are certain to feel the pinch.
Those dank valleys they speak of, they wouldn’t happen to be anywhere around HERE would they? Then there’s the economy and the effect that has on the weed business:
Couple this with an ever weakening Rand and you are likely to be paying way more for your bud in the months to come, as well as feel the price increase sting of mostly imported paraphernalia due to products such as rolling papers going up by a buck or two and vaporizer prices increasing by a few hundred. With the general all round inflation of just about every food product out there, scraping the cash together for you bankie and blades is certain to be tougher than ever this year. The most recent emerging variable on the market, cannabis concentrates and oils, may see the most noticeable bump in price due to the large volume of raw product involved comprising predominantly of middle to lower grade outdoor grown cannabis. Huge increases in the demand for these processed products among medicinal users this year may see this segment of the market making a bigger dent than ever before in the amount of affordable herb now no longer finding its way to your local dealer.
But you only smoke the good stuff of course, buying from that mate of a mate who grows his chronic in a well-lit cupboard. You don’t think he’s going to catch on soon and bump up his prices?
I wouldn’t hold my breath that these growers and dealers won’t recognise the supply shortage as an opportunity to hedge their prices as high as possible in light of low availability of middle to low price range weed. However uncertain the exact details are on how high we can expect to see prices rise, it remains to be seen if consumers, faced with the opportunity cost dilemma of choosing between putting food on the table or cannabis in their stash jar, will simply give up their chronic habits.
Put that in your pipe and smoke it.
Here’s a crazy idea – why don’t we join the ranks of those countries looking to legalise marijuana, reaping the benefits of both increased hemp production and the tax money that comes with government-regulated sale?
Sorry, I must be high.
[source:btl]
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