4 ms·

Since 90s or so I’ve viewed Canada as quasi legal. Very low enforcement compared to my US experience. It seemed like a larger amount of homegrown and related te

Since 90s or so I’ve viewed Canada as quasi legal. Very low enforcement compared to my US experience. It seemed like a larger amount of homegrown and related technologies came out of Canada. Maybe I’m wrong. But if that is true, for consumer there’s really no advantage to going retail and lots of disadvantages as mentioned. So the “black market” sounds bad it’s really like a local artisan. Not some terrorist funding cartel run thing. Just your friend from down the road that shares his bounty.

FooHentai 7y ago
To flip the question around, what's the benefit of regulation? If none, then yeah, it's less weight to just not do it. But without regulation, presumably you get shady growers/dealers with products of dubious constitution. It looks like the price of legalization (in this case) is taxation and regulation. It should have been possible to legalize without either of these things, but that didn't happen. Gotta wonder why.
SuperPaintMan 7y ago
Very true, the RCMP in my hometown were rarely doing raids/busts or anything of the sort. Unless you we're trying to muck around with hard drugs or driving around in a hotboxed car. There were multiple parents/working class people with tables/setups in their garage. Come over for a cup of coffee, catch up about the kids, grab a few grams until next week! Nothing nefarious. On the consumer end the logistics is really the benefit of legal weed. You don't have to know a guy, play a game of telephone, wait around. Instead you can visit a professionally run store filled with people that know about the products and gear that is stocked. Makes it much easier to add into the routine right beside picking up groceries. That being said you pay a premium for that, and there's still black-market services doing Amazon style home delivery.
- inferiorhuman 7y ago
  driving around in a hotboxed car Speaking of things that don't raise an eyebrow in San Francisco.
- Scoundreller 7y ago
  Also, drug crimes in Canada are prosecuted by the feds, not your local prosecutor. And I don't think there's been much federal prosecutorial interest in those cases, even if your local RCMP thinks its a problem. It likely explains why Toronto had to go the bylaw infraction route to close down shops. Which was still a waste of money...
darepublic 7y ago
Sure if you have such a friend they would be a great alternative to legal retail. But many people don't have such a connection so the retail option is just a hell of a lot easier than what they were used to.
- conductr 7y ago
  I wouldn’t disagree. My point is more that a grey market going legal isn’t the same as a black market going legal like is happening in the States. Also doesn’t sound like the retail convenience is materializing for most.

FooHentai 7y ago

To flip the question around, what's the benefit of regulation? If none, then yeah, it's less weight to just not do it. But without regulation, presumably you get shady growers/dealers with products of dubious constitution. It looks like the price of legalization (in this case) is taxation and regulation. It should have been possible to legalize without either of these things, but that didn't happen. Gotta wonder why.

SuperPaintMan 7y ago

Very true, the RCMP in my hometown were rarely doing raids/busts or anything of the sort. Unless you we're trying to muck around with hard drugs or driving around in a hotboxed car. There were multiple parents/working class people with tables/setups in their garage. Come over for a cup of coffee, catch up about the kids, grab a few grams until next week! Nothing nefarious. On the consumer end the logistics is really the benefit of legal weed. You don't have to know a guy, play a game of telephone, wait around. Instead you can visit a professionally run store filled with people that know about the products and gear that is stocked. Makes it much easier to add into the routine right beside picking up groceries. That being said you pay a premium for that, and there's still black-market services doing Amazon style home delivery.

inferiorhuman 7y ago
driving around in a hotboxed car Speaking of things that don't raise an eyebrow in San Francisco.
Scoundreller 7y ago
Also, drug crimes in Canada are prosecuted by the feds, not your local prosecutor. And I don't think there's been much federal prosecutorial interest in those cases, even if your local RCMP thinks its a problem. It likely explains why Toronto had to go the bylaw infraction route to close down shops. Which was still a waste of money...

darepublic 7y ago

Sure if you have such a friend they would be a great alternative to legal retail. But many people don't have such a connection so the retail option is just a hell of a lot easier than what they were used to.

conductr 7y ago
I wouldn’t disagree. My point is more that a grey market going legal isn’t the same as a black market going legal like is happening in the States. Also doesn’t sound like the retail convenience is materializing for most.