Crossword Genius

What grown-ups pay to acquire drug, being lower in quality (10)

Ross

I believe the answer is:

adulterate

I'm a little stuck... Click here to teach me more about this clue!

'lower in quality' is the definition.
Both the answer and definition are adjectives. Maybe there's an association between them I don't understand?

'what grown-ups pay to acquire drug' is the wordplay.
I cannot really understand how this works, but
'grown' could be 'adult' (synonyms) and 'adult' is located in the answer.
'pay' could be 'rate' (I've seen this in other clues) and 'rate' is found in the answer.
'drug' could be 'e' (E is another name for ecstasy) and 'e' is found within the answer.
No letters remain.
This explanation may well be incorrect...

'being' acts as a link.

Can you help me to learn more?

(Other definitions for adulterate that I've seen before include "Doctor" , "Water down" , "Spoil" , "Contaminate" , "Debase by mixing with something inferior" .)

I've seen this clue in The Guardian.
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