

Google Maps visualization of marijuana prices, with over 800+ entries so far - coryl
http://www.priceofweed.com

======
zephyrfalcon
Nitpick: Apparently the visualization wasn't made by or for colorblind
people... all the dollar signs on the map look pretty much the same to me.

(No, I'm not stoned. :-)

~~~
Groxx
Not much of a nitpick, IMO. It's a pretty big oversight.

Curiosity: does any easy color-cycling software for monitors exist for color-
blind people? It seems this could be solved by just rotating the color wheel
until you can see the difference (even if the result is fugly).

~~~
callahad
I've heard good things about eyePilot: <http://www.colorhelper.com/>

They have a flash demo explaining what it does at
<http://www.colorhelper.com/tutorial.php>

~~~
Groxx
That's a decent solution, and one of the nicer demos I've seen in quite a
while. Having a floating window makes a fair bit of sense from a programming /
UI standpoint.

Makes me want to make it system-wide, however. As useful as a floating window
is, unless it has a way of supporting click-through (which is still guaranteed
to be more cumbersome than not having a floating window), you still can't
interact with things properly.

Hmmmm... you've given me _yet another_ thing to add to my list of things to
program. I _think_ I'm thankful for that, though I'm definitely thankful for
the link :)

------
coryl
Oh yeah, I should mention I posted this on HN a little more than a week ago.
Combined with Reddit, you guys helped us get close to 500 entries in a couple
days.

With the data and suggestions, we were able to map it out on googlemaps. We
added metric units (grams), manual location selection, and region pages.
Thanks HN!

~~~
roel_v
Could you add an option to choose which quantity you want to see prices in?
Seeing x$/gram next to y$/ounce doesn't really help much. Doing the conversion
to a user-selectable base unit for all entries on one screen shouldn't be hard
(I know that it would be distorted because of quantity discounts, maybe you
can add an option to only show entries within a certain quantity bracket).

Plus, the heatmap request above would be nice.

Thirdly, the page says that there were entries in my area (in Europe) but the
map doesn't show any.

~~~
VMG
I second these suggestions. Nice idea indeed.

------
enjo
It'd be really interesting to see this break down by "legal" vs "illegal"
purchases. For instance, in Colorado (where "medical" marijuana is widely
available for whoever wants it) is it cheaper or more expensive with a card?

~~~
tibbon
Interestingly enough, California seems really expensive compared to other
places.

~~~
joeld42
Yeah, but that happens with groceries, too.

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blhack
What is the typical dosage for marijuana? Like, how much would a casual user
be using for one smoking session?

This seems like an incredibly expensive hobby.

It also appears that somebody is kindof spamming the site. The top three
entires that came up when I loaded the page were $999 - 5 Grams - Scottsdale

~~~
mr_twj
A couple of nugs might be typical. 1 oz is _a lot_ of cannabis; it might take
a year for a casual user to expend it. So no, your garden variety cannabis is
not expensive and is comparably cheaper than alcohol, and much cheaper than
pharmaceutical drugs.

"The Union" is a decent documentary about cannabis in general, including its
distribution and pricing history:
[http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9077214414651731007...](http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-9077214414651731007#)

~~~
pavel_lishin
_My friend_ usually buys half an ounce to an ounce at a time, and it lasts him
anywhere from a month (if there's not much to do but play video games and
read) to six months. Cost ranges from $200 to $400, depending on quality.

Considering I regularly spend $50 per weekend on drinks, it's an incredibly
cheap way to take a vacation from your mind.

------
CrLf
For a "Global Index", asking for the price of an ounce will stump people
outside the USA. How much is an ounce again?

~~~
ahin
There is also an option for grams.

~~~
Groxx
Man, grahams sound _awesome_.

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solutionyogi
Looks like someone hijacked the website with XSS attack.

~~~
coryl
Yep, fixed. The site has gotten way more traffic than we expected it to.

*And by fixed, I mean I'm watching over the database with a baseball bat until my programming partner gets home lol.

------
coryl
Working on this project with a friend. Any suggestions?

~~~
lmkg
Data scrubbing. For example:

    
    
      California:
      High Quality: $359.19 / oz. (n=72)
      Medium Quality: $300 / oz. (n=17)
      Low Quality: $648 / oz. (n=2)     <-- ???
    

The low quality stuff is worth more than twice as much as the medium? The
crazy numbers for low quality are on account of one wonky data point
($976/oz). There were also some obviously bunk ones like $1/oz, which someone
probably did pay from a friend, but that doesn't reflect street value.

It's hard to do this in an automated fashion, though, at least until you have
a good amount of data. A good place to start would be automatically flagging
figures more than 2 standard deviations from the (local) mean, and hand-
curating those. Keep track of "bad" data points, and as you find patterns you
can add filters.

~~~
Alex3917
The price for the High Quality doesn't make much sense either even with tons
of data points. According to Yelp the most expensive dispensary in SF is
Divinity Tree, and I think their onces are $360. Considering that basically
everywhere else in the state should be cheaper than this I don't see how the
average could possibly be 360.

~~~
coryl
Not everyone can get licenses to purchase from dispensaries, so a dispensary's
price is not necessarily market price. Theres still a "black" market so to
speak; of people who buy it illegally.

~~~
Alex3917
Yes, but the black market price is usually cheaper than the dispensary price.

~~~
coryl
Not entirely true. If I can't get a license, I have to buy off the black
market; meaning I have to go through dealers who traffic under the risk of
arrest and prosecution. That creates the premium price that drugs have today,
everywhere. Thus it makes sense for a drug dealer to charge more than the
price available legally, because buyers without licenses have no choice.

However, there are also demand and supply side things going on that we might
not know about that is affecting the price.

~~~
jrockway
Not entirely true. If I could buy pot at the dispensary and my friend
couldn't, I'd just buy it for him and split it down the middle.

~~~
coryl
Yeah, but you have to look at the big picture. Not everyone has friends with
licenses. Your still doing a favor for a friend and breaking the law, meaning
you deserve a premium on the resale (not that you'd take anything from a
friend).

------
jim_dot
Seems like a lot of people are stoned when entering prices. $10 for 10 grams?

------
what
Feel sorry for the people paying $400/oz, getting ripped off.

EDIT: ... don't be mad at me, be mad at your dealer.

~~~
dgc
I know very little about the price of weed, but I think some of the data has
to be bogus: $1000 for 5 grams in Palo Alto? When I lived there all my
neighbors had their "ten plants" growing in their back yards, nobody I knew
who smoked ever _paid_ for weed.

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ahin
That's it, I'm moving to Canada.

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luckyland
Hah. Love that low quality is "not available" in Oregon.

~~~
pavel_lishin
I'm also surprised by the amount of "high quality" entries in Texas.

But then again, the people smoking shwag probably aren't reading hacker news
and adding their cost of weed to an online database.

~~~
roel_v
I have an academic interest in drug trafficking patterns, but I don't know
very much about the US situation; however isn't much of the US supply smuggled
in over land from Mexico? That would make it quite logical for areas near
borders to have high quality supply.

~~~
dhyasama
I haven't smoked in years because it doesn't agree with me anymore, but when I
did, the stuff from Mexico tended to be lower quality. The good stuff was
usually local and grown with care. Think industrial versus local produce.

~~~
roel_v
Oh I see. Interesting.

~~~
coryl
Canada is probably the leading supplier for marijuana in the United States.
Apparently exchange weed for cocaine and / or guns.

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kunjaan
<http://www.webehigh.com/city/detail.php?CITYID=2205>

I visited my home country after 2 years and it has gotten better. You can
actually rent out a nice room in an innocuous house. You can order your choice
of movies and music. For $10, you can get weed that will last 2 for a month.

Come to Nepal man. Seriously.

~~~
mahmud
pot tourism is not what Nepal needs, man. Years ago it was old men and misfits
that smoked _charas_ ; now you have kids learning the tricks from tourists :-/

------
hebejebelus
While I'm more than a little anti-marijuana, I commend you on your use of tech
in ways they weren't intended to be used. Original hacking. ;)

~~~
cryptoz
Why are you anti-marijuana? Are you anti-beer and anti-coffee too, and if not
I'd be curious to hear your reasoning! Also, out of interest, where are you
from?

~~~
hebejebelus
Not sure just how far I want to get into this, because most of my points are
admittedly indefensible and most of it just stems from a long hatred of
smoking.

I was anti-beer for a very, very long time as well (until virtually six months
ago), though coffee has always been my vice.

I'm Irish, and I'm fairly young (approaching twenty soon, which puts me very
far in the minority on these matters. ;))

Mostly, I simply don't see the point. I understand the need to socialise and
the like, and the need for friends. However, I think that if I make friends
when I'm in a different state of mind to my ordinary, day-to-day thinking,
then are they really my friends?

Furthermore, I don't like having a crutch. I don't think anybody truly needs
to get drunk/high/drink a pot of coffee in the morning to get them through the
day. If you do, you've probably made some bad decisions and you should think
long and hard about where you're going in life.

I also simply _hate_ the stoner mentality. Why the hell would you want to just
coast through life? I mean, make something of yourself! Make your parents
proud!

I know, however, that I'm painting a large number of people with the same
brush here. I know that many of the people who smoke weed sometimes aren't
stoners. I have almost no problems with people who smoke weed every once in a
while, just as I don't have problems with people who go to the pub sometimes
or with people who drink the odd coffee. I do sincerely have problems with
people who smoke pot every other night, or every time they hang out with
people, or every time they get even a little stressed. (Medical marijuana
doesn't count, though, provided naturally that it's actually necessary. I'm
not going to judge people when they're in huge amounts of pain.)

The thing is, though, that past this little speech, I can barely defend my
arguments. It's not that I just don't get it (though that's definitely a
factor), it's also that I simply have an irrational hatred of smoking.

Go easy on me in your rebuttal, I'm only meek. :)

~~~
stingraycharles
"I have almost no problems with people who smoke weed every once in a while,
just as I don't have problems with people who go to the pub sometimes or with
people who drink the odd coffee. I do sincerely have problems with people who
smoke pot every other night, or every time they hang out with people, or every
time they get even a little stressed."

But why do you have problems with that? It appears to me as if have problems
with other people who don't fit into your personal view of how one should lead
its life. Or is this the only thing?

I personally can completely understand that you don't see the added value for
yourself, but I don't get the part where you have an irrational hatred of
smoking. It seems like you want to restrict others the choice of leading their
lives the way they see fit, without harming others.

Do you have this irrational hatred in other areas too? What do you think about
lazy people, for example? Or people who have other religious views than
yourself?

~~~
hebejebelus
> Do you have this irrational hatred in other areas too?

Yes. I don't like tattoos (though I love art in general). Don't like piercings
either. Can't complain about lazy people (unless it severely impacts me), and
I'm perfectly happy with religious people, as long as they don't try to push
their views on me. I'm sure I have a bunch more of these things, my ex-
girlfriend would probably be very happy to remind me of them.

I'm not about to restrict anybody to do anything. I certainly used to be much
worse about this sort of thing (to the point where I didn't speak to my father
for about a year until he stopped smoking (that was quite a few years ago now,
I think I was ten or eleven)), but since college and since meeting a bunch of
new friends with better outlooks on life, I've tried to simply live a drama-
free life. One in which I create no hassle for myself or for others, which
includes not openly criticising people for their choices like I used to.

However, I won't enter into a relationship with a smoker (even a little bit
once a month), heavy drinker, and I'd think long and hard about someone with
tattoos. Couldn't really tell you why. Not much of an issue these days either.
Game development is such a woman-friendly career choice. ;)

Not sure if I answered your questions there, just typing as I think. :)

~~~
jacquesm
Interesting, we agree on all this just about word-for-word. Scary really.

I've tried to figure out why this is with me, the closest I've come to it is
that I think that humans are pretty good the way they are, no need to poison
them or modify them.

I wear no jewelery of any kind, not even a watch and never will, same with you
?

~~~
hebejebelus
I actually have a bit of a penchant for watches, but that's it. :)

------
amirmc
Looks like there could be some interesting arbitrage opportunities in the
north east USA.

I'd be really interested to see data from Europe (but hopefully that will take
care of itself over time).

~~~
coryl
Importing from Canadian grow ops is probably the name of the game along border
states. Retail price is ~$200/oz in Ontario vs ~$400/oz in New York.

Oddly enough however, British Columbia and Washington state have similar
prices. WSH either has much more lax laws, or is being flooded by BC
production? Wonder whats going on there...

~~~
muhfuhkuh
Strangely, it's the availability of beasters in Vancouver coupled with the
absolute dominance of Vietnamese immigrant grow-ops in PacNW[1] (Portland and
Seattle) that have contributed to the downward pricing pressure, not so much
the laws (as, TX weed is abundant and cheap but _DO NOT_ get caught with weed
in TX).

[1]
[http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=1662891...](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=16628918)

~~~
coryl
Our price average for Texas is around $450+/oz (save for the skewed average by
some fake submissions).

Not exactly cheap, but makes sense if getting caught is costly.

------
mcs
Apparently somebody doesn't know how to sanitize input.

~~~
adriand
They were planning on it and then like, totally forgot.

~~~
mcs
good time to add it.

------
cbare
Nice! What other black markets could benefit from this kind of visibility into
pricing? ....hmmm, OK, maybe let's not go there.

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ulvund
Looks like it is US/Canada only so far, even though it says global =)

~~~
mambodog
Down the bottom of the page it's showing me info for Perth, Western Australia,
but none of that is plotted on the map.

------
davidmurphy
I don't want this sort of content on Hacker News. :(

~~~
points
Agreed. Unfortunately we seem to be the minority amongst pot head idiots.

------
points
What a disgusting website. Well done for encouraging drug use.

~~~
coryl
Way to be ignorant of fact and close minded.

Also, there's absolutely nothing about the site that encourages drug use at
all. Implicitly or explicitly. Feel free to show me if you find something that
does.

~~~
points
The fact it exists encourages it.

It's a shame there seems to be such a big pothead culture in the US. Very odd
how some really clever people choose to rot their brains with drugs.

~~~
jonknee
What does cleverness have to do with drugs? Many of the most brilliant people
who have ever lived were drug users. Since this is HN, a good example is Steve
Jobs. He credits LSD as one of the most important things he ever did.

~~~
points
You think Steve Jobs is clever??? :/ You must be on drugs.

Saying something was important isn't the same as saying it's beneficial or
good. For example, some people often say the following:

    
    
      "The best thing that happened for me was getting put in jail"
      "The best thing that happened for me was getting thrown out by my wife"
    

That doesn't mean people should take that as advice.

