Illinois’ black market weed problem mimics that of California and Canada in this way?

Illinois faces similar problems to Canada, California, and many other states that have legalized cannabis – a strong and thriving black market!

Depending on who you ask, billions of dollars of cannabis are being sold illegally in these legal states – but I wonder why that is?

It can’t be because of the inflated taxes authorities put on the price of weed, making it about $ 20 more expensive than what’s on the black market.

It’s the same old story – people want to legalize cannabis, cannabis meets politics, and then “regulators control living hell” out of the legal industry for “reasons”.

What reasons could justify such a high taxation on the plant? Well, depending on which government agency you ask, they’ll find an infinite number of reasons to justify their existence.

Perhaps their existence is justified and in those cases the industry is not opposed to paying these taxes.

In many cases, however, as in the case of California, the tax system is nothing more than corporate money robbery posing as a problem of social justice.

Especially the politicians who voted for the ban on cannabis are now running around in front of their noses when you consider how much tax money they can earn with the legal good.

Then when greed takes the lead – what follows is a black market reaction that undermines the legal market and simply continues to thrive as a cheaper alternative.

It’s not that illegal gamblers aren’t already jeopardizing their freedom for the mighty dollar – why should they quit under a legal system?

Does that mean we can never get rid of the black market?

The short answer is – YES!

The black market will never go away, but that’s not because we legalized weed or not. In fact, there is a black market for every legal market on the planet – including shoes!

The cannabis market only had an exaggerated black market due to a ban that made it illegal for legal competitors to gain market share.

Black market players could continue to do what they want without real competition. That is the reason why “Mexican Brick” became so famous back then.

Mexican Brick is the epitome of black market capitalism under their state-enforced monopoly on the cannabis market.

In essence, Mexican Brick is the most affordable product that can be mass-produced for a consumer base that didn’t have many options.

Grow them for pennies, sell them for dollars!

However, when cannabis legalization came into the spotlight, something changed. The “pit weeds” on the bakery market began to fade and more and more sophisticated cultivation methods appeared everywhere.

The black market began to imitate the legal market and suddenly increasing quantity meant less than increasing quality.

Why sell for dollars when you can sell for hundreds or thousands of dollars?

These days, Mexican Brick Weed’s market share is so small – it’s almost impossible to find.

I almost said!

The black market can never die!

As long as there is a market there will always be a black market. Gamblers who disobey the rules, who copy someone else’s products, and put counterfeit products on the market.

These black market players are in every single market you can think of. Including children’s toys! For the most part, black market products come from places like China or Indonesia – where they are mass-produced for pennies per dollar.

Then they are sold in markets like the US to increase profit margins. In many cases, the same factories that make the original brands also buy the rights to the design and can then make their own copies of the product as well.

This is why “high phones” hit the market so quickly after the latest iPhone hits the market.

When it comes to cannabis, the Chinese own most of the world’s CBD and industrial hemp supply – but there is a lack of recreational bud production.

This is where the Mexicans rule and illegal breeders in the US and Canada. Mexican cartels have many funded operations that are growing on both sides of the border.

They still grow blade of grass – but that’s meant as an excuse for the real products these days – heroin, meth, and better weed.

To pet Uncle Sam’s ego, cartels give them weed as a raison d’etre while delivering their real products at a different entry point.

Everyone knows this – but we keep the charade alive.

Nonetheless, we have seen the Mexican cartels’ influence on the legal market shrink. While they are still looking to gain a foothold in the black market, many US breeders outperform them with production and size.

Drug cartels now have to compete with the police and the legal market, which significantly reduces their interest in the market.

Nonetheless, they have some part in it, considering that we talk about billions of dollars each year.

As with all markets, the black market will never go under – but in the case of cannabis, it will end up being mostly a “minor” problem for law enforcement agencies.

What has to change?

If you really want to keep the black market as small as possible, that is only possible if you make access to the legal market so easy and inexpensive that “anyone can do it”.

The black market does not like to compete with “everyone”, which is why you hardly hear of the “potato mafia” or the “carrot mafia” that squeezes you out of the self-grown fields.

We need regulators who start with the lowest possible tax margins and slowly increase them. You have to wait at least 5 years for the market to become established before you can collect taxes.

Otherwise, you are cultivating the perfect environment for black market sales.

What needs to change is that we need politicians who understand this fact and can translate it into politics.

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