Oh I know. I'm not talking about prices here. You can make the argument that not only is the weed more expensive now because of inflation but also because a lot of it is of higher quality due to hydroponic farms and a better understanding of HOW to grow that has developed in the last 30 or 40 years.
Depending on what you are buying you can still buy the cheap stuff (usually mass produced Mexican brick packed) I would say in today's market would probably go for about $45 for a quarter ounce.
I think the idea back in the 60s and 70s was quantity over quality.
Mexican stuff was low end back then too, the alternative low end was "home grown", basically green leaf, tasted good though. The Mexican stuff was harsher cuz it was dry. Sometimes good quality. Some was known as "dirt weed".
Well, there was some quality that went for a premium, Maui Wowie, Colombian Gold and "thai stick" comes to mind. Bet you never heard of these?
"Thai stick" was opiated stuff. Wasn't until the late 70's is when what we called "ses" for sensimilla, or pure female buds started to appear on the market. Grow lights and indoor growing started about this time too. Hydroponics was a few years off still. Living in NorCal not too far from where the original growers were (and still are) I was pretty aware of what was going on. Knew a couple of guys who worked on a "harvest" crew that did the cleaning, cutting etc. one season. I pretty much stopped smoking in '82 or so.