Hunh. That's a darned good question . . . how much IS an ounce of marijuana anyway?

[xiphias]

Ballot Question 2 in Massachusetts would turn possession of 1 oz or less of marijuana from a criminal offense to a civil offense.

Someone on my friends list, who is working out how she wants to vote, asked, "So, how much IS that, anyway? How many joints do you make from an ounce of marijuana?"

I realized that I have no clue, and that that could really be a significant question . . .

I did some Google searches, and what I turned up suggested that perhaps an ounce would be as much as a single pot smoker could reasonably be expected to consume in a week, but I don't know that for sure.

So . . . I'm pretty darned certain that SOME of you would have a better feel for this than I would. As always, anonymous commenting is allowed; IP tracking is off; if you don't want to explain how you know stuff, feel free not to explain.

But . . . how many joints are in an ounce? How many people would consume an ounce? How long would it take one casual user to go through an ounce, a heavy user, an occasional user?

I mean, I don't assume that there would be a one single answer -- I assume that there are lots of variables, from type of weed to type of smoker to all sorts of things -- but I just want a ballpark order-of-magnitude thing. Would one ounce make one joint? Would one ounce make a thousand joints? I have no way of knowing.

Comments

[ron_newman]

Does it matter, though? I'd vote for this even if it said 16 ounces of marijuana.

[nex0s.livejournal.com]

I used to smoke daily (about 15 years ago now, and not joints - bowls mostly) and smoked about a 1/4 oz a week. SO, for me it'd take a month. My then BF smoked about 1/2 oz a week.

I'd get a joint or 2 out of an 1/8th. So let's say an ounce is about 12 joints.

Joints are really inefficient, and most folks I knew only smoked them in groups. Alone they smoked bowls.

N.

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

It is my understanding (I asked this same question of a friend who used to do a fair amount of weed) that an ounce will make a handful of joints. From that standpoint it seems a reasonable threshold.

I'm more worried about the "or less" part of the provision. Does that include trace amounts? How about zero? You may laugh, but laws don't include intent, and people have been locked up in (e.g.) Dubai for having negligible traces of marijuana in their luggage.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Not to me, it doesn't. But I'm in favor of legalization, not merely decriminalization. A fair number of people, perhaps a third of Massachusetts, would prefer to see dealing marijuana remain a crime, but reduce the smackdown on the end-user to a civil offense. If the amount of marijuana that is exempted is a reasonable amount for an end user, that's one thing. If it's a terribly small trivial amount that nobody would ever have that little, that's another. And if it's a huge amount that someone would only carry if they were supplying a whole lot of other people, that's a third.

And I don't know whether "an ounce" is a tiny little bit, a medium amount, or a huge whole lot.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Since, for now, the trace amounts would be criminal offenses, this nonetheless seems like an improvement.

[(Anonymous)]

An ounce of pot is a fairly significant amount of pot: smoking 2-3 joints a day, which should be plenty, if it's good, you could go close to a month on an ounce, even longer if you don't get high every day.

It's hard, because joints are not standardized. Some people roll big joints, others roll pinners. Personally, I smoke from a bowl: a gram will provide 2 bowls. Depending on the smoke, that can be enough to be quite high enough, thank you.

[xiphias.livejournal.com]

Do you think it would be fair to conceptualize "an ounce of marijuana" as "somewhere around the top end of how much a person could smoke in a week while being a productive member of society?"

[metahacker.livejournal.com]

Good point! I wasn't sure what MGL had to say on the subject currently...I briefly tried looking, but got bogged down in their definitions of various Schedules and whatnot.

[cbpotts.livejournal.com]

If you change that to "in a month" I would agree, which is what I think nexOs is saying.

[nex0s.livejournal.com]

Sure. I had a roomate who smoked about that much per week and is one of the most productive members of society I've ever known.

N.

[linenoise.livejournal.com]

Depends on the quality of the stuff, of course, but this is about my concept of it. I was never a big smoker myself, but one of my neighbors in college was a dealer, and a heavy user himself. So I've *seen* an ounce. It's a fairly large amount of pot, but it's not *necessarily* a dealer's share.

It works out to be exactly right for an upper limit for decriminalization, IMNSHO. If someone has *more* than an ounce, then you're almost certain they're planning on selling some of it. If someone has *exactly* an ounce, then it's more plausible that they're a heavy user that just made their purchase for the [time period] that it takes them to smoke that much.

[the-siobhan.livejournal.com]

Back in the Bad Old Days an ounce used to last about a week. We weren't terribly heavy smokers, but if our friends knew we had a bag they'd be at the house every day.

[nex0s.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm more saying that it really depends on the smoker. I've met folks who thought I smoked a lot, and some who scoffed at my consumption.

I've known folks who smoked an ounce per week who were totally productive (and in fact were MORE productive than their non-smoking counterparts) and those who smoked that and weren't.

N.

[cbpotts.livejournal.com]

Ah. I was going on the 1/4 oz a week thing X 4 weeks = 1 oz/month.

(I think it might be tricky to link smoking to productivity: some jobs become monumentally easier when you're high, while others become impossible.)

[nex0s.livejournal.com]

The people I knew who were highly productive, all had been diagnosed with ADHD and were self medicating. I lived with a friend like that and saw him on the days he didn't smoke. OMG. OFF THE WALLS HYPER. Smoking? Able to have a concentration and focus for several minutes at a time. Vast improvement.

I think a lot of folks who smoke regularly have diagnosed (or undiagnosed) medical issues. I know I did, at the time.

N.

[cbpotts.livejournal.com]

When I worked in Mental Health (a million years ago) they used to call that dual diagnosis: someone would use drugs or alcohol to combat what was happening inside their head. ADD/ADHD wasn't as prominent then, but lots of boderline personality disorder people said that smoking would help them control the feelings of being slighted or being oppressed that they got that were so problematical for them.

[cowgurrl.livejournal.com]

What's interesting is somewhere out there in politics land (I wish I could put my hand on a link) someone is saying an ounce makes SIXTY joints.

[vonbeck.livejournal.com]

I don't think that most voters (and politicians for that matter) know any of this,
nor even think to ask this question.

The important part for this proposed legislation is that 1 oz. sounds like a nice small amount.
Definitely less than you would think a person would carry if they were intending to resell it.

how much?

[(Anonymous)]

About 40 years ago when our army was in a hot wet place instead of a hot dry place, there was a product called "Park Lane". It was a pack of 20 joints, looking like they might have been machine rolled, in a wrapper about the size of a pack of king size cigarettes. Some local had come up with the product and was marketing it to GI's, though at a price well over $5 a pack, most folks stuck to a pipe. (This of course has nothing to do with THAT pipe.)
Duzzy

Re: how much?

[(Anonymous)]

Oh yeah, forgive the rambling. That was an ounce.

[nex0s.livejournal.com]

LOL - what are they? The size of toothpicks?!

A cigarette - including filter & paper is about 1g in weight. So, even if you are able to roll as small as a cigarette (which a lot of people have trouble doing) it's still going to be like 30 joints to the ounce.

N.

[dillonpuff.livejournal.com]

common unit of sale is 1/8th of an ounce (3.5 grams)

break that out as either 7 x .5g bowls or 3 or so medium sized joints. I'd peg it as enough for a night of moderate smoking between 3 people.

Smoking is also very communal so it's hard to judge what you'd smoke just by yourself. I know people who would go through an ounce a week, but they'd be smoking a lot and with other people. I know some people who would go through 1/8th in a week.

Also depends on the quality ...

I think it's a reasonable amount. It's enough so that even fairly industrious smokers would be OK, but anybody who was seriously dealing would be carrying quite a bit over the limit.

[dillonpuff.livejournal.com]

eh, 1 oz. is about what you'd expect to sell if you were at a college party.

[dillonpuff.livejournal.com]

half gram joints are about right for a single person, single serving. you'd get 56. they'd be toothpicks ...

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

The user (not dealer) who smokes one joint on a weekend evening at a party will find an ounce a substantial amount, maybe a 6-month supply. The user (not dealer) who smokes several joints per day for medicinal reasons, with or without prescription, will go through an ounce much more quickly. I have large quantities of anti-nausea remedies (some prescription, some not) in my apartment at the moment--none of them are anywhere near as effective as pot, but nobody has ever threatened to arrest me for having them in any quantity.