Canada’s legal sources are still lagging behind to meet the demand of the customers and customers are still buying the pot from illegal sources. However, the authorities’ claims that legalization will eventually outshine the street dealers and criminal gangs once the market finds it’s withholding.
“Clearly, there are still many issues in the supply chain,” said Minister Bill Blair, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s point man on cannabis legalization.
In October only, Canada became the second country in the world to provide legal status for recreational cannabis, five years after Uruguay.
Parallel patchworks of several public and private online portals have rolled up across the country retailing their own Marijuana framework.
“We are working through it and making progress,” Blair said. “Every month we are witnessing continuous progress in suspending the illegal market and building a normalized supply chain”
Eradicating the cannabis black market in Canada was the main objective in Trudeau’s legalization plan.
Many feared and predicted a rush in drug-impaired driving and pot-related emergency visits but authorities said that no such case has been filed recently.
As per the Statistics Canada, legal sales- medical marijuana has been permitted in Canada since 2001 but only a fraction of consumption i.e. CA $307 million has been received.
With more than 5 million people consuming pot, Canada is the sole country having the highest rate of Cannabis users.
There is a shortage in supply due to heavy licensing imposed by the federal government and also because there is a short amount of time to grow the cannabis because of this the average price of legalized dried cannabis in Canada has increased by more than 17 percent,- CA $8.04 per gram as reported by Government statistical agency.
Due to this buyers are paying on average 57 percent more than the cannabis purchased on the black market which actually witnessed a decline in price rate.
“The price of legal cannabis is outrageous that’s why I’ve continued buying from my (illegal) dealer,” said John, who lives near to the Ottawa’s first legal pot store.
He said further, “From the past 10 years I have been paying the same price for the pot to my dealer, why would I go to a new store and pay high prices”
Fire and Flower, store nearby his place gathered a whopping CA$50,000 in sales on its April 1 opening day.
“I prefer buying weed regularly at Quebec’s government-run stores because they are convenient and safer and a responsible choice to make,” said Anna Kagadaeva, another cannabis buyer from Montreal.
“Supply situation is getting better every week and it is likely to pick up the pace significantly towards the end of spring,” said Fabrice Giguere of Quebec Cannabis Society (SQDC).
Several company executives have also voiced their opinion and predicted a downfall in price as the supplies are going to rise.
Giguere says, “Our goal is to capture 30 percent of the market by the end of October” and says that SQDC is likely to grow to 70 percent in the coming five years, majorly removing the black market.
