Legalization of marijuana unlikely to kill Canada’s black market right away
Whether the black market shrinks and how quickly, observers say, will depend on what the legal market ends up looking like
Monday, December 4, 2017
From texting a local dealer to dropping into a neighbourhood dispensary or ordering online, Canada’s black market for recreational marijuana has seen significant changes in recent years and will see more as the country hurtles toward legalization next summer. What does seem clear is that the illegal market is unlikely to disappear in a puff of smoke come legalization day. “There’s a huge, complex system out there operating in the world that has been delivering excellent product to people at reasonable prices for 40 years now,” says Donald MacPherson of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition. “It’s really the degree to which the regulated system can, over a period of years, encroach on as much of that pre-existing market as possible – that is the key question.”
