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Dollars & Sensamillia
Published: Tuesday, 20 Apr 2010 * 12:06 AM ET Text Size By: Shelly K. Schwartz
Special to CNBC.Key PointsConsumption costs depend on usage and quality.
Comparable to tobacco or alcohol costs.
Legalization could bring lower prices.
Like any discretionary product, mind your budget.
Golf lessons. A trip to the beach. Happy Hour at the pub. Like thumbprints and snowflakes, no two entertainment budgets look alike.
We all make choices with how we spend our fun money, and, for the most part, we all have to adjust our financial picture when new recreational outlets come along.
With that in mind, then, it seems prudent (if not premature) to explore how cannabis consumers might work marijuana into their budgets if it ever becomes legal—which some suggest is a foregone conclusion following the approval of medical marijuana in 14 states and three others considering bills to make pot legal for personal use.
Cost Analysis
Let’s talk numbers first, because last we checked, dime bags cost anything but.
Cannabis sold on the street is derived from any number of agricultural strains. Some are higher quality than others, and thus more expensive.
Nationally, a gram of quality marijuana costs roughly $15 to $20, while an ounce can cost anywhere from $200 to $500, according to government estimates. (See CNBC's analysis of prices and demand)
Little empirical data exists on how much recreational pot users spend each year to get high, since it varies by person. Allen St. Pierre, executive director of National Organization for The Reform of Marijuana Laws, Norml, an advocacy group for the legalization of marijuana, confirms most “regular” users consume pot at least several times per week. With one or two joints per gram—it adds up.
Most marijuana users, he notes, could expect to spend anywhere from $2,300 to $3,500 a year, depending on how often they imbibe and the quality of their product.
That’s roughly in line with how much consumers spend each year on alcohol.
According to a 2009 Gallup survey, those who drink alcohol consume an average of 4.8 alcoholic beverages per week—or nearly 250 per year.
Depending on their drink of choice and whether they consume them at home or a bar (more pricey), that could set them back anywhere from a few hundred dollars to $3,000 per year, or more.
Those who smoke one pack of cigarettes a week, meanwhile, at $7 a pop (it’s higher in some states) drop roughly $364 per year to support their habit. For the pack-a-day smoker, however, that's about $2,550 a year.
A 2008 survey from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Samsha, estimated 15.2 million Americans used marijuana at least once in the 30 days prior to the survey, while 129 million drank alcohol, including beer, liquor, wine and mixed drinks—23 percent of them (58 million) reported participating in binge drinking
Another 71 million Americans age 12 and older were current users of a tobacco product, of which nearly 60 million smoked cigarettes.
Published: Tuesday, 20 Apr 2010 * 12:06 AM ET Text Size By: Shelly K. Schwartz
Special to CNBC.Key PointsConsumption costs depend on usage and quality.
Comparable to tobacco or alcohol costs.
Legalization could bring lower prices.
Like any discretionary product, mind your budget.
Golf lessons. A trip to the beach. Happy Hour at the pub. Like thumbprints and snowflakes, no two entertainment budgets look alike.
We all make choices with how we spend our fun money, and, for the most part, we all have to adjust our financial picture when new recreational outlets come along.
With that in mind, then, it seems prudent (if not premature) to explore how cannabis consumers might work marijuana into their budgets if it ever becomes legal—which some suggest is a foregone conclusion following the approval of medical marijuana in 14 states and three others considering bills to make pot legal for personal use.
Cost Analysis
Let’s talk numbers first, because last we checked, dime bags cost anything but.
Cannabis sold on the street is derived from any number of agricultural strains. Some are higher quality than others, and thus more expensive.
Nationally, a gram of quality marijuana costs roughly $15 to $20, while an ounce can cost anywhere from $200 to $500, according to government estimates. (See CNBC's analysis of prices and demand)
Little empirical data exists on how much recreational pot users spend each year to get high, since it varies by person. Allen St. Pierre, executive director of National Organization for The Reform of Marijuana Laws, Norml, an advocacy group for the legalization of marijuana, confirms most “regular” users consume pot at least several times per week. With one or two joints per gram—it adds up.
Most marijuana users, he notes, could expect to spend anywhere from $2,300 to $3,500 a year, depending on how often they imbibe and the quality of their product.
That’s roughly in line with how much consumers spend each year on alcohol.
According to a 2009 Gallup survey, those who drink alcohol consume an average of 4.8 alcoholic beverages per week—or nearly 250 per year.
Depending on their drink of choice and whether they consume them at home or a bar (more pricey), that could set them back anywhere from a few hundred dollars to $3,000 per year, or more.
Those who smoke one pack of cigarettes a week, meanwhile, at $7 a pop (it’s higher in some states) drop roughly $364 per year to support their habit. For the pack-a-day smoker, however, that's about $2,550 a year.
A 2008 survey from the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, Samsha, estimated 15.2 million Americans used marijuana at least once in the 30 days prior to the survey, while 129 million drank alcohol, including beer, liquor, wine and mixed drinks—23 percent of them (58 million) reported participating in binge drinking
Another 71 million Americans age 12 and older were current users of a tobacco product, of which nearly 60 million smoked cigarettes.