Although weed is, slowly but surely, becoming more and more acceptable from both a legal and moral standpoint, there’s no question the cannabis black market lives on. While some lawmakers think that cannabis’ increasing legality will deter users from buying it from an underground market, there are plenty of people skeptical that the black market can ever be 100% squashed.
Canada, for example, has tried to fight black market opposition by lowering the prices of their weed in certain provinces. However, with the number of government regulations and stipulations surrounding the market, it’s unlikely it could ever garner as much popularity as the black market.
While Canada is just one example, the thinking remains the same across the board. Places like California and Colorado have prices that just don’t compete with illegal sales. At least, one industry insider believes so.
Tray Deee aka the creator of the potent SunRocks ‘strain’ recently sat down with Vlad TV to explain why the black market will never truly die.
Tray Deee Says The Cannabis Black Market Lives On
The interview covered a range of topics, including Canada’s soon-to-be-legal market, as well as the United State’s prospects for federal legalization. However, the biggest issue discussed was exactly why people still sell weed illegally in California. And, unsurprisingly, it came down to one thing:
Money.
Interviewer: “As someone who was around people selling a lot of illegal weed… what happened to all those people? There’s no point in buying weed illegally anymore.”
Tray: “It is though. Because they taxing it like 27%.
Interviewer: “So it’s cheaper when you buy it illegally?”
Tray: “Yes, it is.”
Deee also goes on to discuss how much easier it is to sell on the black market, then it is in the legal landscape. Between the overhead, variety of licenses, and heavy taxation, it just makes more sense both fiscally, and time-wise, to just grow and sell the old-fashioned way.
Interviewer: “Why grow illegally when you can grow legally?”
Tray: “Well there’s just so much bureaucratic red tape, you know what I’m saying? You gotta have licenses, permits, pesticides-free, organically grown. You know, there’s just so many restrictions… there’s like 4 or 5 permits you need to have to be a legal grower.”
Tray acknowledges the possible jail time one can face if they forgo the necessary obstacles to sell legally. However, when it comes down to it, there’s a method to the black market’s madness: “Profit,” he says.
