6 ms·

So wait, they're holding (and destroying!) massive quantities to keep the price of medical marijuana "34% higher" than the black market price, then acting surpr

So wait, they're holding (and destroying!) massive quantities to keep the price of medical marijuana "34% higher" than the black market price, then acting surprised that their product isn't moving? > Forced, in most cases, to sell to a provincial wholesaler along with everyone else in the sector Okay I know nothing about Canada's cannabis market, but who thought that could possibly be a good idea?

jacquesm 5y ago
Canada has a ton of such cartels, the egg board, the milk board, the LCBO and so on.
- monkeybutton 5y ago
  Maple syrup too! https://www.vpr.org/vpr-news/2018-03-08/quebecs-legal-maple-syrup-cartel-dictates-prices-for-vermont-maple-producers https://www.vpr.org/vpr-news/2018-03-08/quebecs-legal-maple-...
  - joncp 5y ago
    Don't mess with those guys.
- Spooky23 5y ago
  Onions too. They used some trade negotiations to put a northeast US farmers out of business for certain onions, which now sell for retail at less than production price.
- WhyNotHugo 5y ago
  This is really the worst kind of shit. Destroy food so they can charge more, while so many starving people could use that food. I've heard it a million times, but it'll never stop shocking me to here about this idea: Keeping market value up is more important than reducing starvation.
  - gruez 5y ago
    But that happens in the US as well? See all the stories about farmers dumping milk during the pandemic.
    - dylan604 5y ago
      I don't think the comment you replied to was saying it's only bad because Canadian. They were stating every time they hear about food being destroyed it pisses them off. Doesn't matter if it is US, Canada or a dictator doing it in front of the people that were hoping to receive it. It's a shit move. However, let's not forget the logistics of getting the food to locations it was never thought about getting to when it was "made". Farms pretty much know where their food is going to be sold when it comes time for harvest. Food like milk definitely has an expiration factor as well. So if American farmers can't sell their milk normally and have never tried to arrange for it to be sold elsewhere, getting it to elsewhere before expiration isn't as easy as one might think.
      - gruez 5y ago
        >I don't think the comment you replied to was saying it's only bad because Canadian. They were stating every time they hear about food being destroyed it pisses them off. But if you're against food waste, shouldn't you be supporting supply management (ie. preventing excess production)?
        dylan604 5y ago
        You state this like I'm not, but this is just as complex and complicated issue. Do you pay farmers to just not grow anything in exchange for not over producinng? We kind of already do that in the US. Do you legislate that any producer must have primary buyers as well as secondary/tertiary buyers lined up to ensure never wasting the product? Do you legislate that any one farmer is only allowed to produce X amount of whatever, or state that only X amount of product can be produced annually in total, so put you bids in now for a stake? Do you take the farmer for any crop that is destroyed to discourage over production? Or you can do a startup to disrupt farming with a way to preserve food so it never spoils (a la Twinkies). Good luck selling that product.
- SECProto 5y ago
  And most of us are very happy to support supply management! "Cartel" has very negative connotations. The issues in this article are also entirely different. edit: you forgot to mention our nefarious healthcare cartel!
  - slapfrog 5y ago
    > And most of us are very happy to support supply management! "Cartel" has very negative connotations. Exactly. Having a stable supply of food is more important than having an economically efficient supply of food. Of all industries, the food industry in particular should not be left totally up to market whims.
    - gruez 5y ago
      >Exactly. Having a stable supply of food is more important than having an economically efficient supply of food. Has there any empirical studies/evidence that supports this claim? > Of all industries, the food industry in particular should not be left totally up to market whims. The oil industry seems pretty important as well. After all, most of our vehicles run on it. Maybe we should be glad that OPEC is engaging in "supply management", so they're not "left totally up to market whims"!
      - slapfrog 5y ago
        > The oil industry seems pretty important as well. Not nearly as important as food; the only thing as important as the food supply is our supply of drinking water. Nothing else is comparably important, so you're wasting your time trying to find analogies. And the instability historically see in the oil industry is precisely what sane people want to avoid in the food supply.
        gruez 5y ago
        >Not nearly as important as food; the only thing as important as the food supply is our supply of drinking water. Nothing else is comparably important, so you're wasting your time trying to find analogies. Guess what modern agriculture (tractors, fertilizers, pesticides) runs off of? Furthermore, if food security really is important, why is only dairy and egg supply managed? Surely if you want to keep your country fed, you'd want to go after the staples like potatoes or grain? If all the milk cows and egg laying chickens vanished, people would have to change their eating habits. Some people (working in adjacent industries) might lose their jobs, but that'd be it. On the other hand, if all the wheat/soybean/corn/rice/potato crops vanished there would be a massive famine.
JeremyBanks 5y ago
You're misreading. They're not being ordered to destroy crops in order to support the medical marijuana price. They're destroying crops because there was a bubble and they've created way too much supply. Cannabis stocks were a fad for a while, and I know lots of people who invested in them blindly. The number of legal cannabis retailers is exploding. I live in a mid sized town and there are three more opening this month, and the ones I see always have customers. The system's hardly failing, some speculators just played themselves.
- mandmandam 5y ago
  > they're not being ordered to destroy crops in order to support the medical marijuana price. I didn't say, or suggest, that anyone was ordered to destroy crops? They created too much supply, yes. Follow the logic chain out a step. If they wanted to sell it, they could lower the price... Instead they _choose_ to keep the price above the black market price. The black market price which is already inflated far above production cost, by virtue of it being illegal.
  - CitizenHeat 5y ago
    Legalization in Canada has dropped unregulated prizes. An 1/8oz (3.5G) pre legalization could fetch $30-$40. Post legalization is maxed at $25. This might not seem like much, but as the weight goes up, it gets drastically cheaper.
  - Yeroc 5y ago
    You seem to be assuming that the producer/grower and retailer are the same company. There are often disconnects in supply chains like this where someone is hemorrhaging money while others in the chain are doing quite well. And besides if your production costs are high there's a point where lowering the price no longer helps. eg. the cost to package it for retail distribution just adds more even more loss.
    - djrogers 5y ago
      TFA references a huge amount of already packaged bud and produced and packaged edibles included in that billion grams. Unless you’re a cartel trying to price fix for long term gain, selling this stuff at >$0 is a win.

jacquesm 5y ago

Canada has a ton of such cartels, the egg board, the milk board, the LCBO and so on.

monkeybutton 5y ago
Maple syrup too! https://www.vpr.org/vpr-news/2018-03-08/quebecs-legal-maple-syrup-cartel-dictates-prices-for-vermont-maple-producers https://www.vpr.org/vpr-news/2018-03-08/quebecs-legal-maple-...
- joncp 5y ago
  Don't mess with those guys.
Spooky23 5y ago
Onions too. They used some trade negotiations to put a northeast US farmers out of business for certain onions, which now sell for retail at less than production price.
WhyNotHugo 5y ago
This is really the worst kind of shit. Destroy food so they can charge more, while so many starving people could use that food. I've heard it a million times, but it'll never stop shocking me to here about this idea: Keeping market value up is more important than reducing starvation.
- gruez 5y ago
  But that happens in the US as well? See all the stories about farmers dumping milk during the pandemic.
  - dylan604 5y ago
    I don't think the comment you replied to was saying it's only bad because Canadian. They were stating every time they hear about food being destroyed it pisses them off. Doesn't matter if it is US, Canada or a dictator doing it in front of the people that were hoping to receive it. It's a shit move. However, let's not forget the logistics of getting the food to locations it was never thought about getting to when it was "made". Farms pretty much know where their food is going to be sold when it comes time for harvest. Food like milk definitely has an expiration factor as well. So if American farmers can't sell their milk normally and have never tried to arrange for it to be sold elsewhere, getting it to elsewhere before expiration isn't as easy as one might think.
    - gruez 5y ago
      >I don't think the comment you replied to was saying it's only bad because Canadian. They were stating every time they hear about food being destroyed it pisses them off. But if you're against food waste, shouldn't you be supporting supply management (ie. preventing excess production)?
      - dylan604 5y ago
        You state this like I'm not, but this is just as complex and complicated issue. Do you pay farmers to just not grow anything in exchange for not over producinng? We kind of already do that in the US. Do you legislate that any producer must have primary buyers as well as secondary/tertiary buyers lined up to ensure never wasting the product? Do you legislate that any one farmer is only allowed to produce X amount of whatever, or state that only X amount of product can be produced annually in total, so put you bids in now for a stake? Do you take the farmer for any crop that is destroyed to discourage over production? Or you can do a startup to disrupt farming with a way to preserve food so it never spoils (a la Twinkies). Good luck selling that product.
SECProto 5y ago
And most of us are very happy to support supply management! "Cartel" has very negative connotations. The issues in this article are also entirely different. edit: you forgot to mention our nefarious healthcare cartel!
- slapfrog 5y ago
  > And most of us are very happy to support supply management! "Cartel" has very negative connotations. Exactly. Having a stable supply of food is more important than having an economically efficient supply of food. Of all industries, the food industry in particular should not be left totally up to market whims.
  - gruez 5y ago
    >Exactly. Having a stable supply of food is more important than having an economically efficient supply of food. Has there any empirical studies/evidence that supports this claim? > Of all industries, the food industry in particular should not be left totally up to market whims. The oil industry seems pretty important as well. After all, most of our vehicles run on it. Maybe we should be glad that OPEC is engaging in "supply management", so they're not "left totally up to market whims"!
    - slapfrog 5y ago
      > The oil industry seems pretty important as well. Not nearly as important as food; the only thing as important as the food supply is our supply of drinking water. Nothing else is comparably important, so you're wasting your time trying to find analogies. And the instability historically see in the oil industry is precisely what sane people want to avoid in the food supply.
      - gruez 5y ago
        >Not nearly as important as food; the only thing as important as the food supply is our supply of drinking water. Nothing else is comparably important, so you're wasting your time trying to find analogies. Guess what modern agriculture (tractors, fertilizers, pesticides) runs off of? Furthermore, if food security really is important, why is only dairy and egg supply managed? Surely if you want to keep your country fed, you'd want to go after the staples like potatoes or grain? If all the milk cows and egg laying chickens vanished, people would have to change their eating habits. Some people (working in adjacent industries) might lose their jobs, but that'd be it. On the other hand, if all the wheat/soybean/corn/rice/potato crops vanished there would be a massive famine.

JeremyBanks 5y ago

You're misreading. They're not being ordered to destroy crops in order to support the medical marijuana price. They're destroying crops because there was a bubble and they've created way too much supply. Cannabis stocks were a fad for a while, and I know lots of people who invested in them blindly. The number of legal cannabis retailers is exploding. I live in a mid sized town and there are three more opening this month, and the ones I see always have customers. The system's hardly failing, some speculators just played themselves.

mandmandam 5y ago
> they're not being ordered to destroy crops in order to support the medical marijuana price. I didn't say, or suggest, that anyone was ordered to destroy crops? They created too much supply, yes. Follow the logic chain out a step. If they wanted to sell it, they could lower the price... Instead they _choose_ to keep the price above the black market price. The black market price which is already inflated far above production cost, by virtue of it being illegal.
- CitizenHeat 5y ago
  Legalization in Canada has dropped unregulated prizes. An 1/8oz (3.5G) pre legalization could fetch $30-$40. Post legalization is maxed at $25. This might not seem like much, but as the weight goes up, it gets drastically cheaper.
- Yeroc 5y ago
  You seem to be assuming that the producer/grower and retailer are the same company. There are often disconnects in supply chains like this where someone is hemorrhaging money while others in the chain are doing quite well. And besides if your production costs are high there's a point where lowering the price no longer helps. eg. the cost to package it for retail distribution just adds more even more loss.
  - djrogers 5y ago
    TFA references a huge amount of already packaged bud and produced and packaged edibles included in that billion grams. Unless you’re a cartel trying to price fix for long term gain, selling this stuff at >$0 is a win.