Kelly O
GRAMS OF HASH OIL Imagine about 120 times this amount.
The amount of concentrated
cannabis you can now lawfully possess under Washington State's pot
legalization law is up to some debate. Hash oil, with THC concentrations
that can exceed 70 percent, is one of the most potent forms of
cannabis. But under the law, is this nectar classified as dried
marijuana flowers, thereby allowing you to possess an ounce? Or is it
classified as a marijuana-infused solid, meaning you can possess up to a
pound? Or, even more hilarious, when you can buy it in vials of goopy
crude, is it classified as a marijuana-infused liquid? Because if it's
technically a marijuana-infused liquid, the law says you could possess
up to 72 ounces.
The same as a six-pack—more than four pounds.
"I've never even seen anybody market a pound of
hash oil," responds Cliff Wilkerson from Greenworks Northwest with a
laugh. He estimates such a stash would require between 10 and 20 pounds
of starter shake, and that regularly processing such large quantities
would require expensive industrial equipment. But is it even possible to
acquire 16 to 72 ounces of hash oil?
For oil makers, the hardest part would be finding all those leaf
trimmings. Hash oil is most commonly made these days by packing pot into
a tube and running a solvent like butane through the material to
extract the oils, resins, and waxes. The concentrate is smoked,
vaporized, or used as an ingredient in other products.
What if an eccentric wealthy visitor—the Russian mogul, the Saudi
prince, the Snoop Lion—wanted to seriously maximize their legal stash?
"It'd be really hard for someone to touch down and find a pound,"
says Nolan Foster of Seattle's Best Cannabis and Concentrates, perhaps
the most prolific oil distributor in town for medical-marijuana
patients. No medical co-ops stock such quantities.
Our sources say hash oil retails for around $50 per gram in Seattle,
with wholesale rates of $20 to $30 per gram. The pound rate—if it
exists—would be $9,000 wholesale or more. If one could source 72 ounces
of liquid hash oil, it would carry a $40,000 price tag