THE average pot smoker in the Coffs-Clarence region spends $250 for an ounce of medium-quality marijuana or about $9 a gram when buying in bulk. For what is ostensibly a wild-growing weed, that is some serious money weighing down the pockets of drug dealers. The Coffs-Clarence figure comes from a website allowing users to submit their pot prices, which are then averaged out and published so crimson-eyed travellers know what they can expect. Submissions have been tendered from towns all over the country. [continues 176 words]
THE New South Wales Government's Stoner Sloth anti-marijuana campaign cost taxpayers $350,000 and 265 public servant work hours just to be internationally ridiculed. Greens MP Mehreen Faruqi uncovered the details under a freedom of information request into the failed #StonerSloth social media campaign. It set the government back $351,790, including $36,386 paid to advertising firm Saatchi and Saatchi. The government spent $115,000 on research, including $64,000 for market research, $28,000 for a Sax Institute and University of NSW literature review on the effectiveness marijuana education campaigns and $23,000 for University of Technology Sydney research. Production company 8Com took home $59,000 and $99,990 went to media agency Universal McCann. Actors, including the hirsute star, were paid $28,000. According to PriceOfWeed.com, the government could have bought about 30kg of high-quality marijuana for the total amount. [end]
