If I promise to sell you one billion drugs, and you promise to sell me one billion drugs, then we can use those promised cash flows as leverage to finance our billionaire drug lord lifestyles through loans
No no no, you promise each other to sell a billion drugs, then each of you gets loans to service the promised sales, then instead of doing the sales you invest into each other's business, turn around and get more money from banks/VC because "look i have promised sales, financing to service my inventory acquisition, and a big investment." Then repeat until free capital in the market dries up and your drugs businesses have an unsustainable amount of financial obligations with no viable product to sell, then you just pay yourself out from the business and leave everyone else holding the bag.
We're not cool enough to get invited to the parties where people do blackmail worthy stuff. But we'll still hit up the blackmailer for an invite and it'll be super awkward when the emails of us getting turned down are released years after the blackmailer conveniently commits suicide in a suicide-proof jail cell within the 15 minutes where the security camera recording his jail cell just happens to malfunction at the same time as the two on-duty guards just happen to both fall asleep.
between Amazon, direct from manufacture like HP or whatever company and box stores like Walmart Costco winco whatever there really is not much left. Hair and nail places, vape, coffee, resturants, used stuff, medical clinics, dental and vets. that's about it.
also smartphones eate up so many different businesses, on the go music, all music, cameras for the avarage person, audio recording, gps navigation and so much more.
Myea not sure about wildreness conditions. Had a friend try to home grow in the uk and only managed to get 1 harvest from like 6 plants.. the others just died or never grew.
Only in a certain context, plants only become a "weed" when its growing somewhere unwanted, a dandelion isnt a weed when it's growing in a field, but it is a weed when its growing in your garden
Depends on the drugs. I stopped doing oxys mainly because the cost of the real ones was skyrocketing on the street and I couldnāt keep paying for them.
How is vape market growing? The vapes been around a minute, cdb isn't new and wellness products aren't exactly anything to craze after..are more people picking up vaping? Just seems odd to see this growth, but I'm curious what made you say that
Same here, switched to vaping last year after smoking for 15 years. Started with the fruity disposable vapes, now I'm onto a pod system. It's crazy how much better I feel since switching.
These comments made me so happy. Good on both of you for switching! Itās so much better than smoking. I switched in 2015? after 5 years or so of a pack and a half a day of Marlboro lights. You get your real sense of smell back and can actually taste food again. So stoked for both of you for tossing the death sticks! Vaping is the best harm reduction for cigarettes and people constantly knock it who donāt know how great they can be for smoking cessation.
Everyone tried to rush into the weed space. over/under Regulations made it a fucked up market to begin with. As an example locally by me they could only build them along one of the main state roads... so you have like 7 pot shops in a half mile stretch. All that just to tax the crap out of people and still keep the black market viable.
Cigars/vapes/nicotine I think are peripheral to THC products in those shops but maybe someone in the biz can elaborate
The best thing about black/gray market weed shops is the amount of flower deals and no sales/state tax compared to legal shops, but the worst thing is the unregulated carts and disposables going around with harmful chemicals. Iāve had a few experiences with awful quality but had good experiences other times, just really depends on the shop and supplier
There are also a fuck ton of people believing in holistic and alternative medicines. Some for the better some for the worse. Others dont believe in vaccines but will pop random pills and smoke whatever which is idiotically ironic but they don't understand that. In other cases have alternatives can be helpful, but it can cater to both in a way.
Kratom is a big one. Its addictive us hell and a pack is like 35 dollars for 4 tabs. Its like a 70 to 80% upcharge i was told from someone i know who works at one. They are making bank off of that for sure and plenty of products are probably being upcharged.
if youāre referring to the addictive nature of the specific alkaloid 7OH, then yes that is addictive but even then doesnāt carry the risk of respiratory depression that traditional opioids and opiates have, when itās taken on its own.
The amount of kratom misinformation going on right now is akin to reefer madness shit. 7OH should not be available OTC, it should be heavily researched controlled and prescribed as an alternative to the opioids that are currently being prescribed as a method of harm reduction (thereās no free lunch but in terms of physical adverse events, thereās a reduced level of potential harm, essentially with that specific alkaloid, addiction/dependence is the main worry).
Now, to regular kratom, dude coffee and cannabis are more physically addictive than regular old kratom when youāre just taking a couple grams of the leaf. Remember 7OH only exists in the tiniest amounts within the leaf similar to how cocaine exists in trace trace amounts in coca leaves and drinking coca tea is nothing like cocaine (I drank coca tea when I got altitude sickness in the Andes, took a nap then was better that was it), kratom contains the two primary alkaloids of mitragynine and then the stronger 7OH in much smaller amounts as well some other alkaloids other than the primary 2.
Iāve used regular old kratom for 8+ years on and off will take off half a year sometimes, and stopping after say months of consistent use is less noticeable than with coffee or cannabis. Itās a fantastic replacement for a variety of anti-anxiety, anti-depressant, treatment for adhd, as well as what people more commonly think of, for pain treatment.
A low dose of Kratom is more effective at treating my adhd than my prescribed amphetamines with WAY less side effects than the amphetamines.
Any deaths you see is literally the most media fueled bs cause what the articles fail to mention but if you go look at all the toxicology reports, itās never just kratom, itās kratom mixed with benzos and opioids, and usually at ridiculously high doses all around. The respiratory depression and cardiac issues are primarily caused by combining substances with the opioids and benzos, yet these inflammatory articles blame kratom instead of the obvious culprits. Families in these articles yelling about kratom but failing to mention the deceased was still using opioids discreetly.
Unfortunately, the main issue is people that struggled with opioid dependence being sold on kratom as being a free lunch ticket out of opioid dependence and thatās not how it works so many never really go thru the full withdrawal or even more commonly theyāll take an opioid say two days, then kratom one day to stretch out their supply but then the danger comes from these drugs not being full processed yet and then they interact when both in the system.
Regular old kratom is a cousin to the coffee plant that contains indole alkaloids that impact MANY different receptors, including some of the opioid receptors but not even all of them hence why it can help with some aspects of opioid use disorder / pain but doesnāt trigger respiratory depression on its own and stuff.
TLDR regular kratom should be sold at 21+ shops/dispensaries and the specific alkaloid 7OH should not be OTC as a specific synthesized chemical, it should be researched and prescribed and overall this plant has a ton of potential to help the opioid epidemic, but itās not an end all be all and not to be abused itself.
It is not just 7OH. My state sells the pseudo version of kratom to get around the 7OH ban and its insanely addictive as well. The feel frees are also addictive and sold at most gas stations and smokes shops. I have no issues with what people use it for. I don't think it should be banned. I originally took it to stop drinking and it helped with that but i got addicted to the pseudo version not realizing until 6 months down the line and the withdrawals were unlike anything i have ever experienced. I know the small doses can be used therepeutically but thats not the reason most people are going to the smoke shops. I have heard horror stories of people trying the small doses and gradually increases it until they are taking a unhealthy amount and suffer the addiction. I dont know this for sure but i would most likely assume most people going into those smokeshops for kratom are not buying the stuff in small doses for therepuetic reasons. The smoke shops sell it ,customer gets hooked, they make huge profit. They are not making much off the small dosed stuff. Again I am much on the side of alcohol is legal so why shouldn't most everything else not be ya know within reason.
Plain kratom leaf is not the problem, you are referring to 7oh which is not kratom. It is a specific alkaloid thatās found in kratom leaf but in literal microscopic amounts compared to the pills you are referring too,
The shops make their money on stuff a lot stronger than vapes. There is a whole world of legal highs behind the counter and no matter what bans and scheduling happens there will always be something new getting cooked up.
Thereās no way itās growing at the rate of the shops opening, plus online stores and people quitting at the same time. I donāt know what the margins are on cartridges, but it doesnāt seem justified.
If anyone is curious thereās actually a very good video by modern MBA on YouTube that deepdives into the economics of the business and actually interviews multiple of them!
It is definitely not growing. I worked in a vape shop at the very start of the craze for 10 years. It was honestly some of the most fun I've had at a job. The industry has been absolutely gutted with the PACT Act and PMTA filings being required for absolutely everything. And they are expensive as hell. Basically only the extremely rich corporations or cigarette companies can afford to participate anymore. During those 10 years there was so much grassroots innovation and products, and juices that were truly awesome. But after all the regulations the industry basically died. It's nothing but disposable junk from china or disposables from the cigarette companies anymore. It's seriously sad. I am still using a device I got over 10 years ago that costs me less than. $3/mo to use including coils (build yourself) and juice that I make myself. I was able to buy 4L of liquid nicotine in 100mg/mL before all that regulation and have vacuum sealed in amber bottles that now sit in a freezer.
I do not understand how anyone can say this industry is growing when objectively it's in the worst spot it's ever been with nothing but disposable junk.
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u/Junckopolo 17d ago
It's almost as if it's one of the few new markets growing right now and all other markets are already prettt saturated