Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, March 4, 1991 TAG: 9103040068
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A3 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: VICTORIA RATCLIFF STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
Not only is the price of pot going up, it's getting harder to find, users and narcotics officers in the Roanoke Valley say.
What no one is sure of is why.
Narcotics officers say they'd like to think their efforts at interdiction are working. But, they say, it may be nothing more than a function of supply and demand.
A pound of marijuana, which cost $300 to $400 a couple of years ago, now is selling for up to $2,500 in Southwest Virginia, according to Don Lincoln, senior resident agent of the Drug Enforcement Administration office in Roanoke.
"We're as amazed as anyone else," Lincoln said recently. "Twenty-five hundred dollars is ridiculous. . . . It's the equivalent of a bottle of whiskey costing $300."
An ounce of pot that sold for $75 to $100 a year ago now is selling for up to $200. "And that's for stuff that's just pretty good," one marijuana smoker said.
While the marijuana supply is scarce, pot still can be found in Southwest Virginia.
In fact, the user said, "It's not as scarce as it was earlier in the summer, or even in the early fall . . .. I thought in the fall there would be a lot of stuff because people would be harvesting" homegrown marijuana then.
But that wasn't so.
"There's not as much homegrown around as there was. The market is absolutely dry," Lincoln agreed.
Narcotics agents say it's more difficult to find marijuana nationwide, and the prices are up everywhere.
They have several theories on why.
"We'd like to think eradication is what's making it so scarce," said Roanoke vice officer D.F. Ragland.
Lincoln agreed. Even though authorities haven't yet won the war against drugs, he said, "I think the interdiction effort is really beginning to pay off."
Drug enforcement agents have basically "locked up" the South Florida and gulf coasts to incoming marijuana hauls, he said. "It's tougher to bring loads in."
Consequently, the marijuana that is coming into the Roanoke area usually crosses into this country from the Mexican border, he said.
Dave Borden, resident agent for the U.S. Customs office for Southwest Virginia, agreed that law enforcement officers finally "are making some dents" in the amount of marijuana coming into the country. "The blockades are working . . . It's being picked up regularly on both coasts."
One reason the blockades are working is that marijuana isn't easy to haul, he said. Pot is bulky, and therefore difficult to conceal. Sellers also must sell a large quantity to make a profit, Borden said.
Most people who sell drugs would rather sell cocaine because it is easier to transport, authorities agreed.
There also is more of a demand for cocaine, they said.
"The drug of choice is cocaine" among users today, said Roger Rector, assistant special agent in charge of the narcotics unit at the state police office in Salem.
The scarcity and cost of marijuana could simply be a function of supply and demand, Rector said. "The cost is getting progressively higher as people turn to other drugs to distribute."
The cocaine supply is adequate to meet users' needs, he said. And the price of cocaine has dropped because there is plenty of it to be found, he said.
Even now, when a large load of marijuana makes it into the area, the price drops temporarily if a lot of people have it to distribute, Rector said.
"Supply and demand is a big part of it," agreed Henry Altice, director of Hegira House, a Roanoke halfway house for drug abusers. "Society's changed. Cocaine's far more glamorous today than marijuana.
"People who are dealing drugs realize there's more demand for cocaine, it's cheaper for a dose of cocaine, and it's easier to smuggle."
But few drug users even want marijuana anymore, Altice said. "They really don't care" that it's not available, he said. "They really don't want it. Marijuana is not conducive with their lifestyle. The only ones who smoke it now are the hippie types who used it 15 years ago."
One result of the short supply of marijuana is that first-time drug users are starting with cocaine - a far stronger drug than pot, he said. "There's some of that because cocaine's so readily available. If one drug is not there, another will readily take its place," Altice said.
Some drug enforcement officers have suggested that the price of marijuana has been artificially inflated by big dealers who are holding the supply back to get the prices up.
But local authorities disagree with that theory.
"We have no evidence or indication that dealers are holding stuff and artificially raising the prices," Lincoln said. "They're selling everything they can get their hands on."
One reason Lincoln thinks marijuana is in short supply, even for dealers, is that narcotics agents have performed several successful reverse undercover operations. In these operations, agents set up dealers who are looking to buy marijuana, he said.
"We're seeing more people trying to purchase marijuana," Ragland agreed. "Coke dealers are trying to buy marijuana."
by CNB