The Impending Death of Brick Weed

The Impending Death of Brick Weed

There are many newer smokers who will never have the displeasure of smoking brick weed. If you don’t know what brick weed is, don’t worry I’ll explain more about it later on. For those of us who have been smoking for decades, brick weed was probably the first toke you ever had. Don’t get me wrong, it wasn’t all bad.

Brick weed is perfect for rolling fat doobies and smoking all day long. It’s not as potent as the newer strains that are hitting the market and was fairly cheap to buy. However, the future of brick weed is coming to its culmination and one of these days we will no longer be able to find it anywhere.

What is Brick Weed?

“Mexican Brick Weed” got its name due to the fact that cartels would compress marijuana in bricks to transport across the border. There was a time where most of the marijuana sold in the US came from Mexico and thus many people had access to brick weed.

Usually very cheap and at times “decent quality”, brick weed was a staple for many stoners growing up. The problem with “brick” was that is usually had a lot of seeds and stems, it wasn’t properly cured or trimmed for that matter. But when you’re a fresh stoner looking for a “sack”, Brick weed was probably one of your firsts.

The Rise of Modern Cultivation

People have been growing marijuana for thousands of years and while there has always been strong strains available, over the past 20 years the cannabis scene changed drastically. Now with modern growing techniques and industry experience, cannabis growing elevated itself to a whole new level.

While the price for marijuana also became more expensive, the quality and effect increased significantly and more people started desiring to smoke “premium bud”. No longer was Brick sufficient to quell America’s hunger for cannabis due to the fact that modern strains grown for dispensaries are simply a superior product.

With brick weed you would have to smoke a half a joint to start feeling the effects of cannabis, modern strains can get you a whole lot “higher” with a single hit. Not to mention the diversity in strains, methods of consumption and even extracts, the desire for brick has dropped significantly.

What the Money tells us

Back in the day Cartels sold weed for $90 USD per kilo. At this price, there were hundreds of farms in the mountains of Mexico, producing weed all year round to supply the demand from their neighbors up north. However, since 1997 when medical marijuana was first legalized in California until now, the price has dropped more than 60% and now is hovering between $30-$40 USD per kilo.

In turn, Mexican pot farmers are now less likely to grow marijuana as the profit margins simply don’t add up. Many farmers are switching to poppies as the value of the crop is becoming a stronger bet in terms of return on investment.

If this trend continues, more farmers will be switching crops and one of these days the supply of brick weed might run dry. This will especially happen when cannabis is legalized on a national scale in the US.

How Legalization Killed the Beast

There is a direct correlation between legalization and the price drop of brick weed. What decades of the War on Drugs couldn’t achieve (which was to eradicate marijuana grows), legalization achieved in record time and without the bloodshed.

It’s another piece of evidence to suggest that prohibition simply doesn’t work and only benefits those who are willing to break the law, and those who enforce it. The rest of us are left in a chaotic mess of violence and corruption.

The legalization model diverted the funds from criminal cartels into the hands of society. In turn, it stifled the production of cannabis down South and forced cannabis farmers to give up on a crop that has sustained their families for decades.

I do wish to point out that there is a difference between “cannabis farmers” and cartel members. The farmers grow but do not engage in the trafficking of the drugs and are typically people who only grow to feed their families. The cartel bosses on the other hands have no problem killing, bribing and extorting their way to power. Within the prohibition model, it’s the cartels that benefit.

However, I digress.

The point is that legalization is the best weapon against organized crime as you don’t try to stop their operations, but rather divert to the consumer market back to society.

The Impending Death of Brick Weed

As more states begin to legalize, the demand for brick weed will drop significantly. It will eventually come to a point where brick weed simply isn’t desired anymore by consumers and thus will spell the impending death of its existence. Perhaps, you’d be able to find some in Mexico in the future, however the United States has expressed their preference and in turn brick weed is seeing a constant decline.

Future generations will never know what it feels like holding a pound of shitty-brick you bought for under $100 dollars.

Thank God You Never Have To Smoke Brick Weed, Again.