Canadians are wondering, what has weed legalization given us?
The legal market was intended to replace the grey and black market, however, the range of products introduced in the last year hasn’t changed, the labeling and branding has.
The legal market was intended to replace the grey and black market, however, they are failing According to Statistics Canada, with only 29 per cent of cannabis users saying they’ve gotten all of their product from a legal source.
It could be argued the government has stifled the mass cannabis invention Canada saw during the grey-market boom. More importantly, the Canadian government have failed to replace the black market due to high taxation, therefore inflated prices.
With the government competing against black market stores to establish the most competitive pricing - what is the result:
Grey-Market (MJNExpress) Disposable Verde - $91.66/g
Legal (OCS) Disposable San Rafael - $233.00/g
Both are e-commerce weed shops offering Canadian customers the ability to buy weed online.
The main difference, one has licensing and is offered by OCS and the other operates on the black market by MJN Express. The OCS products have access to the government approved labs, and distribution, a barrier for black market products. For this privilege they pay a high tax rate, and had to have be approved in the controversial lottery approval system.
Government weed store ‘OCS’ released new options to the Canadian public to begin 2020. Vaporizers, Edibles, and Concentrates are just some of the new forms of Cannabis consumption now legalized.
The price disparity is present across all product lines. A “10mg” chocolate barfrom OCS is $0.92/mg THC, A “200mg" chocolate bar from MJN Express is $0.09/mg THC. Each mg costs you 10x more from the legal market.
As weed stores across Canada roll out new products to start 2020 it shapes a new frontier in Canada’s legalization. Leaving everyone wondering, "what is the cost of buying weed for those wanting legal options?" It is exorbitantly high.
Canada’s largest problem has been stifling the black market in order to direct consumers toward a regulated alternative.
Why are only 29% of Canadians using legal weed ?
With the introduction of diversified product lines it’s never been more critical for the legal market to re-think how they have structured their first year of legalization. The consumer is the ultimate decision maker - one who values quality, service and price.
Can the legal market ever beat the black market in price. That remains to be seen, but so long as they continue to operate and fulfill Canada’s appetite for Cannabis - they must try to be competitive in all areas.
