News

How Much Does a Pound of Hash Oil Cost?

And Where Would You Even Buy It in Seattle?

by Ben Livingston

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.