Validate assumptions
Years ago, and for many years, I cultivated marijuana, as did most of my friends. I did reasonably well, until I had a child and gave all the money to his mother. Some of my friends are still going. Many of them are millionaires now.

A necessary part of the work is maintaining a respectable identity and cover story for various suspicious activities. From keeping neighbours happy and unsuspecting to laundering large quantities of foreign currency, practically all aspects of public interaction have an element of deception.

The technique I found to be best is to be a blank slate and accept the assumptions that people make, just like in improvisational acting. Avoid "blocking". Whatever the other person says, just go along with it. The person will feel gratified that her assumption was correct, and won't question any further. The real trick is to avoid hesitation. If you are too slow to validate, then uncertainty sets in.

Now for the funny story:

It is difficult to maintain a facade, and very tiring mentally sometimes. The girlfriend of my friend told me the story of when she had had enough and decided to break up with him.

She was skiing with her brother and and his friend, and on the chair lift, the friend wanted to know the local price of marijuana.

As growers, we typically deal in quantities of tens or hundreds of pounds. For a friend, we might sell as small as a quarter pound for a favour. More often, I would just give it to them.

So when the brother's friend asked, "How much does a quarter cost?", as in quarter ounce, she jumped in with, "About $900."

They looked at her wondering what the Hell she was talking about. It took her a second or two to realise they weren't talking about pounds.

It was then that she knew she needed to go.
(DeepBlue, Sun 13 Jul 2008, 0:17, 3 replies)

I'm just grateful
for the advice you gave at the beginning.
(BrainSurgerysFun, Sun 13 Jul 2008, 1:25, closed)

A quarter pound (4oz?) costs $900??
qkufyhgahfg
(MJPerry was crude but clickable at, Sun 13 Jul 2008, 2:36, closed)

meh
In Vancouver you can pay between $150 and $250 per ounce depending on the quality and who you know.
(spazdor, Mon 14 Jul 2008, 0:33, closed)