What Is Brick Weed
Brick weed was sun-grown cannabis dried in bulk and pressed into dense, transportable blocks. To cover the strong smell, shipments were sometimes soaked in gasoline or other chemicals before crossing the border. By the time it reached U.S. smokers, it had earned dozens of street names—schwag, dirt weed, regs, bobby brown, stress, and more—cementing its reputation as the low-grade baseline of America’s cannabis supply.
Brittle & Brown
The hydraulic compression process crushed delicate trichomes and stripped away terpenes, leaving the cannabis brittle, brown-green, and littered with seeds and stems. With potency often hovering at just 5–10% THC, it produced harsh smoke with little flavor or aroma. Despite its flaws, it dominated the market for decades because of its sheer availability.
Smuggling 24/7
Mexican cartels mastered smuggling infrastructure. Trap cars with hidden compartments, semi-trucks loaded with concealed pallets, underground tunnels, cargo containers, and even Pacific boat runs kept supply lines flowing. Bricks moved north by the ton, with California, Texas, and Arizona serving as primary gateways. At the height of the trade, 60% of U.S.-Mexico border traffic was funneled through the San Ysidro crossing in Southern California.
Why Mexico
Four key factors made Mexico the natural supplier. Its proximity to the U.S. kept transport costs low. Old alcohol and drug prohibition smuggling routes were easily repurposed. Harsh U.S. laws limited domestic cultivation. And Mexico’s climate allowed outdoor fields to yield crops year-round. Together, these advantages let cartels outproduce and underprice any competing source.
Built for Scale
Cartels ran cannabis like a multinational industry. Massive outdoor grows stretched across rural farmland, with cheap labor maintaining endless rows of plants. By the 1970s and 1980s, Mexico supplied as much as 95% of the U.S. market. Wholesale prices plummeted to as low as $30–40 per kilo at the border, creating a supply chain no domestic grower could match.
Cheap & Plentiful
For consumers, price was the appeal. In the 1980s an ounce sold for around $60—about $500 adjusted for today’s inflation. By the 2000s, as Colombian imports and U.S. indoor sinsemilla began taking market share, prices rose to $1,000–$1,500 per pound in the Northeast. Still, millions kept buying brick because affordability outweighed quality.
Always In Stock
Seasonality limited U.S. growers, but Mexico’s climate kept plants in constant rotation. Continuous harvests fed the pipeline, and cartels operated like wholesale distributors, moving product across state lines in an endless cycle. For decades, it seemed brick weed would never run out.
The Fall Begins
By the mid-2000s, U.S. demand shifted toward stronger, seedless domestic cannabis. Mexico’s market share slipped to around 30–40%. Legalization accelerated the decline. Between 2014 and 2023, U.S. border seizures of Mexican cannabis collapsed 98%—from 2.4 million pounds annually to just 61,000. Today, brick makes up less than 5% of the market, lingering mainly in non-legal states at bargain prices of $20–40 an ounce.
Full-Circle Irony
In a reversal, premium California indoor is now smuggled into Mexico, catering to wealthy buyers who crave quality far above the old brown bricks. The former supplier has become the customer, while brick weed fades into history—remembered as both the backbone and the bane of America’s cannabis habit.
YOUTUBE VIDEO
— Nugg Notes
0 comments