Legal Marijuana In Canada Much More Expensive Than Black Market: StatCan

Charlemagne · Jan 10, 2019

01/09/2019 14:35 EST

Legal Marijuana In Canada Much More Expensive Than Black Market: StatCan

About half of survey respondents said they bought legally.

Canadian Press

A grower inspects a cannabis plant at a craft grow operation outside of Nelson, B.C., Thurs. Nov. 8, 2018. Statistics Canada says that the average price of a legal gram of recreational pot last year was nearly 50 per cent higher than the illicit market price.

OTTAWA — Statistics Canada says that the average price of a legal gram of recreational pot last year was $9.70, nearly 50 per cent higher than the illicit market price of $6.51.

The agency says it received 385 price quotes deemed plausible using the StatsCannabis crowdsourcing application between Oct. 17, when adult-use pot became legal in Canada, and Dec. 31.

It added that roughly half of the respondents told the agency they bought recreational pot from a legal supplier.

Statistics Canada also says the average amount of non-medical cannabis purchased from an illegal supplier was more than double the quantity bought from legal channels, such as government-run stores or websites.

Respondents told the agency since Oct. 17 they purchased an average of 17.2 grams from illegal suppliers, compared with 8.3 grams from legal retail outlets or online for mail delivery.

However, availability of legal cannabis amid widespread product shortages across Canada since legalization day may be a contributing factor.

https://m.huffingtonpost.ca/2019/01/09/marijuana-prices-canada_a_23638528/

|2 /-\ | /|/ · Jan 10, 2019

Who in their right mind actually cares about a little higher price for better quality and clean product. In the black market you don’t know what kind of chemicals and pesticides they are using and what other shit it could be laced with plus you need to worry about drug dealers.

So far I tried these from the government and really good quality:
Aurora MK Ultra
Cove raise
Pink kush
NorÂ’easter
Blue Dream
Tangerine Dream
Napali CBD

Fuck the black market and fuck the drug dealers...they can all burn in hell for all I care. I like the government better in this sector as its more reliable and they actually care about our health through quality control. So we pay a little more, like this matters, I hope this industry makes some money and profits. I never got asked any questions or seen any surveys so I question the reliability of this survey especially since I bought so many different types and haven’t been targeted by this survey. I wonder where and who they are targetting with this bs survey. Also what shortages lol I haven’t experienced this so far.

basur · Jan 11, 2019

ever smoked bad pot? laced with something? I have, ruined a Friday night. Legal pot price is sooooooooo cheap compared to a nice bottle of wine, etc. Price?? not even a consideration for approved pot.

|2 /-\ | /|/ · Jan 11, 2019

basur said:
ever smoked bad pot? laced with something? I have, ruined a Friday night. Legal pot price is sooooooooo cheap compared to a nice bottle of wine, etc. Price?? not even a consideration for approved pot.

Exactly bang on. You never know even with reliable drug dealers they won’t be held accountable. When I was in high school I once had a bad joint that it really fucked me up for a while and caused me to quit weed for over 20+ years till I knew the government would provide oversight and a blanket of protection against this type of risk.

Also if you vape properly all you need is like 0.2g to get really high. So if you pay $50-55 for 3.5g you get like 15-17 hits which is not bad at all for that price given the high can last like 2 to 4 hrs vs. how much would it cost for liquor to fill that void. This equates to about $3.7 for a 4 hour feel good high which seems very cheep to me. I remember in the 90s I used to pay $10 for a dime bag or joint and the weed back then was shit in comparison to todays strength. Having said all this the government weed seems like a great deal.

TeeJay · Jan 11, 2019

Wow OP you just blew my mind

Do you think the LCBO might charge me more for alcohol too?
What about stores selling tobacco?

Charlemagne · Jan 11, 2019

TeeJay said:
Wow OP you just blew my mind

Do you think the LCBO might charge me more for alcohol too?
What about stores selling tobacco?

The whole point of legalizing marijuana was to get rid of the black market for the most part, therefore prices need to be competitive. Obviously it will be more expensive, but it shouldn't be that much more costly if we want to get rid of most of the dealers who sell illegally. Sounds like you didn't think it threw very well....

Obviously there will be higher prices for higher grades and different strains etc, but there should be enough supply for reasonable economic access.

kkelso · Jan 12, 2019

Charlemagne said:
The whole point of legalizing marijuana was to get rid of the black market for the most part, therefore prices need to be competitive. Obviously it will be more expensive, but it shouldn't be that much more costly if we want to get rid of most of the dealers who sell illegally. Sounds like you didn't think it threw very well....

Dude. It's Canada. The whole point of legalization was to increase tax revenues.

KK

curr3n_c1000 · Jan 12, 2019

Charlemagne said:
The whole point of legalizing marijuana was to get rid of the black market for the most part,

Wrong. The point was to increase revenue because the government stupidly went over budget.

TeeJay · Jan 21, 2019

kkelso said:
Dude. It's Canada. The whole point of legalization was to increase tax revenues.

KK

Bingo

Charlemagne said:
The whole point of legalizing marijuana was to get rid of the black market for the most part, therefore prices need to be competitive. Obviously it will be more expensive, but it shouldn't be that much more costly if we want to get rid of most of the dealers who sell illegally. Sounds like you didn't think it threw very well....

Obviously there will be higher prices for higher grades and different strains etc, but there should be enough supply for reasonable economic access.

@Char
Yeah like the 500% markups we put on alcohol and tobacco to "be competitive"
Those brilliant guys in government sure did wipe out those black markets

Legalizing weed is going to make it easier for the blackmarket to thrive since weed is no longer prohibited

Jasmine Raine · Jan 30, 2019

What I don't like is the price of medical marijuana went up because they placed the Excise Tax on it.

It is already taxed with HST which makes no sense for medication but now it is also taxed with a sin tax that should not be there either based on the fact that this is medication.

TOraps23 · Jan 30, 2019

Legalization is cash grab. Legalization also increased the profit for people in the black market. Illegal dispensaries are charging 10 - 15 per gram. People I know that sold for years have increased their price to match dispensary prices and people are still buying.

Now that cannabis is legal many people still hide the fact they smoke pot so giving up their info to the government to buy pot is a no go for them.

To the guys that think people lace their cannabis don’t know how the game works. You’d loose your shirt if you laced cannabis with another drug.

|2 /-\ | /|/ · Jan 30, 2019

TOraps23 said:
...

To the guys that think people lace their cannabis don’t know how the game works. You’d loose your shirt if you laced cannabis with another drug.

Its not only risk of weed being laced which does happen. Its all the pesticides and other impurities they use while the plants are growing and being cured. The government has strict regulations against these types of substances contaminating the dried flower.

$4 is so cheep for a hit. Why risk it any further and try to get it down to like $3 or below per hit. Not worth the risk.

TOraps23 · Jan 30, 2019

|2 /-\ | /|/ said:
Its not only risk of weed being laced which does happen. Its all the pesticides and other impurities they use while the plants are growing and being cured. The government has strict regulations against these types of substances contaminating the dried flower.

$4 is so cheep for a hit. Why risk it any further and try to get it down to like $3 or below per hit. Not worth the risk.

Pesticides are used in the growing process to prevent bugs from ruining the crop. Top licensed producers (lps) broken coast and organigram have been caught by health Canada for using banned pesticides . Cannabis form redemen was recalled by OCS because of mold(impurities).

The curing process is the final step when drying cannabis no chemicals are used in this stage. Curing cannabis is all about slowly drying the bud to retain flavours and increase the strength of the bud.

Lacing weed doesn’t pay. You actually think people are going use a more expensive substances to increase the strength of the pot they sell. Lol.

shack · Jan 30, 2019

It is the same as stuff like Pro-line. The gov't gives worse odds than the bookies. Between pot and gambling, the gov't rips us off more than the people that they are supposedly protecting us from.

drdemento · Feb 8, 2019

I will never understand why people happily give money to drug dealers. They are criminals with no motivation other than cash. I applaud the legalization of marijuana as the first step in taking money away from he illicit drug trade. I believe that all drugs should be decriminalized so that drug lords would no longer have income (ergo no influence or motivation) and all the money spent on fighting drug wars could be spent on the rehabilitation of the poor bastards who got hooked on drugs in the first place.

The only way to defeat the drug trade is by taking the money out of it. Did we not learn anything from prohibition?

|2 /-\ | /|/ · Feb 8, 2019

drdemento said:
I will never understand why people happily give money to drug dealers. They are criminals with no motivation other than cash. I applaud the legalization of marijuana as the first step in taking money away from he illicit drug trade. I believe that all drugs should be decriminalized so that drug lords would no longer have income (ergo no influence or motivation) and all the money spent on fighting drug wars could be spent on the rehabilitation of the poor bastards who got hooked on drugs in the first place.

The only way to defeat the drug trade is by taking the money out of it. Did we not learn anything from prohibition?

This ^^^ :thumb:

Add prostitution to the mix as well and you will see our societies benefit and government can constrain the cash flows and target the real criminals.

saxon · Feb 8, 2019

There will always be a market for those who can’t afford a government sold product. Tobacco, alcohol, pot, gambling are priced high because the government wants their share. As far as pro line goes the government gives you shitty odds so they don’t have to pay as much if you win. Want better odds go to a bookie. Want cheaper cigarettes go to the reserve. Want cheaper booze buy in the states or find someone selling bottles that fell of a truck. Want cheaper dope find a reputable street dealer.

lomotil · Feb 8, 2019

drdemento said:
I will never understand why people happily give money to drug dealers. They are criminals with no motivation other than cash. I applaud the legalization of marijuana as the first step in taking money away from he illicit drug trade. I believe that all drugs should be decriminalized so that drug lords would no longer have income (ergo no influence or motivation) and all the money spent on fighting drug wars could be spent on the rehabilitation of the poor bastards who got hooked on drugs in the first place.

The only way to defeat the drug trade is by taking the money out of it. Did we not learn anything from prohibition?

Yes and no, society has changed a great deal since prohibition. Suddenly making cannabis legal with the government as the dealer in 2019 is far different than ending prohibition 100 years ago. Decriminalizing all drugs poses several doomsday scenarios. Would you have the government with a monopoly dealing fentanyl, cocaine, crack cocaine, crystal method etc, in an LCBO model?

eternalbachelor · Feb 8, 2019

TOraps23 said:
Pesticides are used in the growing process to prevent bugs from ruining the crop. Top licensed producers (lps) broken coast and organigram have been caught by health Canada for using banned pesticides . Cannabis form redemen was recalled by OCS because of mold(impurities).

The curing process is the final step when drying cannabis no chemicals are used in this stage. Curing cannabis is all about slowly drying the bud to retain flavours and increase the strength of the bud.
.

It's fertilizers that's a problem. To get maximum weight you want to fertilize plants as long as possible. To get a clean product though you want to stop fertilizing a few weeks before harvesting and flush it all out with water for a few weeks.

drdemento · Feb 8, 2019

lomotil said:
Yes and no, society has changed a great deal since prohibition. Suddenly making cannabis legal with the government as the dealer in 2019 is far different than ending prohibition 100 years ago. Decriminalizing all drugs poses several doomsday scenarios. Would you have the government with a monopoly dealing fentanyl, cocaine, crack cocaine, crystal method etc, in an LCBO model?

I would absolutely not support those drugs you mention nor any other dangerous addictive drug being marketed. I am suggesting that the users no longer be criminalized and that those who are willing to register with a government run dispensing clinic be provided with their drug of choice along with literature and the offer of counseling and rehabilitation. Drug users are victim, not criminals.

Legal Marijuana In Canada Much More Expensive Than Black Market: StatCan

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