Been a while since you smoked a doob? Here Brendan Hogan reveals what’s been happening in Budland since you’ve been off having kids/a career/better things to do.....
How much does cannabis cost in Dublin?
If you can find the good stuff you might pay as much as €25 a gram (around €8 per joint). More likely, you’ll encounter mass-market ‘soapbar’ hash, around €3 per gram. There are various other types of hash, ranging from Slate, or Polm, at €200 per ounce to black Moroccan and Caramello at around €400 per ounce. The higher the price, the higher the THC [Tetrahydrocannabinol, the main psychoactive substance] content. Herbal cannabis displays a less dramatic variation in price and potency. African Bush weed may retail for as little as €200 an ounce, while selected strains with THC of between 15% and 20% fetch up to €500 an ounce. In the middle of the road is the mass market, hydroponically-grown, chemically-fed weed, increasingly produced in Ireland by foreign gangs – it’s €300 an ounce and often contaminated with salt, sand, sawdust and sugar in order to add weight and increase profit.
What’s the most expensive way to smoke?
By buying somebody else’s cannabis. The cheapest way is to get high off your own supply. Growing your own also cuts out the contamination problem entirely.
How many people are arrested for smoking pot in Dublin?
In 2006, there were 2,105 cases in Dublin involving cannabis possession (without intent to supply). This is slightly down on the 2005 figure of 2,414, but both are significantly higher than the 2004 figure of 1,246. This may suggest that the Garda has intensified its focus on cannabis in recent years, but given that the figures for other regions vary wildly, it’s all pot luck really.
What is the official line on cannabis in Ireland?
It varies depending on which official you listen to. Minister of State with responsibility for drugs Pat Carey says he “recognises the realities” that lots of people use cannabis. He says that while he doesn’t want to turn a blind eye, Ireland’s protocol to cannabis is “more benign” than that of the UK.
Carey’s moderate liberalism marks him out from his colleagues. The attitude of the average TD is more accurately captured by the blustering rhetoric of the 2006 Dáil report, ‘What Everyone Should Know About Cannabis’, which declared cannabis a predatory danger more potentially harmful to children than paedophiles.
As for the police, the head of the Drug Squad, Detective Chief Superintendent Cormac Gordon, has said, “the Garda Síochána don’t differentiate between hard drugs and soft drugs.” The majority of drug-related arrests (57%) are in connection with cannabis.
Is cannabis use liable to be decriminalised in the next ten years?
No. Not a single Dáil deputy publicly supports cannabis decriminalisation, and most parties are afraid to even talk about it. Indeed, the Labour Party in 2007 killed a motion at conference in order to prevent any debate about the idea.
Public opinion will swing behind liberalisation long before the politicians do. Until the tipping point is reached, even the privately pro-reform politicians will keep their views to themselves.
Who is your average dealer? A young man with few employment opportunities, usually from a working-class background.
Your average dealer is a small-time operator who sources his cannabis from large criminal syndicates; they import it from England, Spain and Holland. He makes a modest profit and essentially acts as a franchisee of the syndicates that sell him large quanities of cannabis on credit, and often push him to sell other illegal drugs. He faces the distinct business handicap of sharing the market with heavily-armed competitors.
How many people smoke pot in Dublin?
62,623. This is the approximate number of people who have smoked cannabis in Dublin in the last month. Such people are considered to be regular users in surveys which measure lifetime prevalence of cannabis use (21.9% nationally), as well as last year (6%) and last month use (3%).
Dublin has a slightly higher drug-use rate compared to the national average – it is home to around 177,000 “regular” tokers.
What happens when you’re caught smoking a joint at a gig?
Anecdotal evidence suggests that you get off more lightly in Dublin – gardaí sometimes even return cannabis confiscated at gigs. In Cavan, meanwhile, they regularly set up roadblocks to snare law-breaking gig-goers making their way south by bus. The wrong-doers can then expect to be taken to the police station, strip-searched and jailed, before being dragged before the district court; the judge may hand down stinging fines and a permanent criminal record.
Irish music events are heavily policed, in contrast to UK festivals like Glastonbury. Tolerance of cannabis use is far from officially sanctioned. One district court judge even suggested that Oxegen ought to be renamed ‘Intoxigen’ due to the high numbers of drug arrests. In 2006, there were 370 minor drug seizures, and 20 people were arrested for possession with intent to sell. In 2008, there were a whopping 556 arrests for possession, 42 for possession with intent.
well maybe you can research info about how much cost at other countries and ake like a comparative square or something like that... or tell us where the weed is most expensive or cheapest!!!
Posted by: Children Anxiety Disorder | March 19, 2009 at 12:45
If you can find the good stuff you might pay as much as €25 a gram????
where you buy that i heard people to pay more than €60 for normal stuff...
Posted by: Affiliate Promotion | March 19, 2009 at 12:48
odnt understand wh ythis stuff is not legit.
i get offerd it all the time and i dont even use it.
Posted by: darla | March 27, 2009 at 13:57
25 euro for a gram of decent hash this sounds very expensive to me i get a regular supply of moroccan caramello 10 gram bullets for 80 euro. and as for weed we pay 100 to 150 for bush weed 230 to 250 for commercially grown hydro. and if yer lucky enough to be able to get high quality home grown uncontaminated you pay 300 maybe 350 at a push.. lukily i hve a mate who grows and he sorts me out wit oz for 200 jus to me for personal.. these prices are not from the capital dublin but a small county in the south east.. i jus taut id add that as the prices you mentioned seemed a bit crazy to me maybe somepeople pay those prices but personally i dont know of anyone who pays these prices. im not trying to contradict you jus giving my wel experienced knowledge
Posted by: pot lover | September 06, 2009 at 14:52
Those moroccan caramello bullets are smuggled by bum , hence bullets .... still , its some good shit eh
Posted by: shane lavelle | June 13, 2010 at 00:29