Dear Vos..
I lived in Monterey, Carmel, Big Sur and PG between 1966 and 1986. No weed sold for $200 an oz in 1970. Sorry. Panama Red and Acapulco Gold were $20 an oz. in that time.
No one had good local sinsemillia before the late 1970s either. I smoked a lot of weed in my days there, and I was part of the pot scene for many years there.
My brother and I went by the name of the Pills Bros. and we partied all over NorCal. I hung out a lot in Santa Cruz, Gilroy and Elkhorn, just south of Corrolitos. Never heard of the Haze Bros. I did smoke some Purple Haze weed back around 1977 though.
Most of the better seedless bud around that time I got in or from Big Sur, Carmel Valley, or the Santa Cruz mountains for $60-80 an ounce. That was the best time for weed, before High Times ruined it and posted regional prices for weed. Then the lawyers showed up with suitcases full of money from back east and the price went up rapidly.
By 1980 it was over $100 an oz for anything local. By 1985 right before I left that area it was more like $200 an oz. I was growing my own by then though, forced into it by the high prices.
I had my seed collection then, which I still have. I read a book about the viability of freezing seeds in 1976, and I started saving seeds in the freezer at that time. I still have that collection of 38 landrace and early NorCal heirloom strains. Yah, yah no one believes it can be done. But it is true. They can be frozen for long periods of time. I grew two strains last year from my collection, and all 12 seeds that I planted germinated. I have Colombian Wacky weed seeds, as well as several strains of Colombian highland gold and lowland red. I grew them in PG one year, but they bloom and finish so late I never got a harvest. I grew them outside and the rains hit that area in October, so they never made it past November.
I also have a lot of Mexican strains by region, and a lot of seeds from the early days from Big Sur and Monterey, including come later generation Big Sur Holy Weed. Now, that was a strain of legend. Another tall tale as I have read online. But the seeds are unique; tiny and very dark purple. I grew a few of them on Southern Oregon 7 years ago and they were huge, dark purple, and bloomed really late. By October I had to harvest what was in my greenhouse because of early frost, and they were tiny buds still. That strain is said to be from Zacatecas, and it blooms late like Northern Mexican landraces did back in the day.
Anyway, amusing. My seeds are not for sale, BTW. I have seen too many people get ripped off and/or conned out of their clones, genetics, crosses, and seeds over the years. I saved these thinking that I would grow them in future, which I have over the years. Until now I have been growing medical under OMMP for a pair of lawyers, mostly their own proprietary strains. I has also been growing some of my own and ding some crosses.
Now weed is LEGAL in Oregon and I can grow 4 plants at a time here so I stopped growing medical. I could get a commercial grow license, which I looked into, but it is insane with all the requirements, permits, licenses, and costs. Not worth it. I was thinking of selling landrace weed as a boutique variety locally in Oregon, and cross my landraces with themselves to preserve the genetics. But again, commercial OLCC permits and fees are insanely high with all the requirements to grow here, even though I live in a county that allows commercial growing, I own property that is zoned for growing, and I have water rights (actually an exemption, but that is equivalent to a water right and I can pump 5,000 gallons a day for commercial use here).
So anyway... my read on this. My experience with weed in that area back in the day was that a lot of Thai was available through Ft Ord, as was hashish from the Middle East through GIs stationed in Europe. The Lebanese red was my favorite. Mexican weed was commonly smuggled up by the truckload into places like Carmel Valley, Polo Colorado (north end of Big Sur) and Greenfield. Colombian was not that common until after about 1975 there.
All the Ganja that I ever saw and smoked from South India in the 70s was seedless, which I have read was common in their method of growing and harvesting. That was the best weed I ever smoked, BTW, and I had people banging in my door for months after it ran out asking if I had any more. Sorry, looooooong gone
Sur!