The reason people buy weed on the black market

Legal marijuana is becoming more and more accessible. Still, black market sales of marijuana remain constant in countries like the United States and Canada where legal markets exist. Price is the main reason people still buy weed on the black market, according to a new survey. It’s devastating California and other states should see that it’s a big warning.

The survey, conducted between 2019 and 2020 and published in the Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, surveyed 12,000 cannabis users in Canada and the United States and found that price is more important than convenience, which is the second most important reason people continue to turn to illicit cannabis Choose grass.

A 2016 referendum legalized recreational use in California. The goal is to eliminate illegal sellers, regulate the substance for safety reasons and increase taxes for the state. The first pharmacies opened in 2018. But the licensed stores haven’t dented the size of the black market, which is steady at about $8 billion a year, according to Tom Adams of Global Go Analytics. The legal business has problems. In 2022, sanctioned cannabis sales fell 8.2 percent to $5.3 billion.

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According to the study:

In both years, the most commonly cited barriers to legal purchase were price (Canada: 35-36%; US: 27%) and inconvenience (Canada: 17-20%; US: 16-18%). In 2020, several factors were reported less frequently as barriers in Canada compared to 2019, including inconvenience and the location of legal sources. In the United States, certain hurdles increased, including slow delivery and the need for a credit card.

In the United States, black market cannabis sales are one of the main drivers in building a functioning legal cannabis market. States like California, which were the first to introduce legal markets, have allowed the two markets to coexist, which cannabis workers say is wildly unfair.

Alex Brough is co-founder of Keneh Ventures, a private equity fund that invests in ancillary businesses to the legal marijuana trade. In an interview with Times Union, he compared a legal dispensary owner who “does anything that’s not compliant” to a smuggler who sells cheap, untested weed.

“You don’t know any better, you’re not an industry expert, and you go to California and get caught up [eighth-ounce] “Here they have chronic illness for $60, and this place across the street sells it for $30,” he explained. “If you’re at all mindful of your budget, go for $30.”

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States across the U.S. establishing new cannabis markets can use previous states as guideposts, allowing for more controlled transitions and more accurate predictions about how their legal market would operate. Still, black market cannabis sales have existed for decades, with companies building relationships with buyers. It will take time to build a new legal market and gain the trust of new buyers.