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Cannabis at the store costs anywhere from $90 to $500 a oz, with $120-150 a oz being the average AA grade. The same prices for a "gray market" is typically arou

Cannabis at the store costs anywhere from $90 to $500 a oz, with $120-150 a oz being the average AA grade. The same prices for a "gray market" is typically around $30 to $90 range for a oz of AA grade. Most of the "gray market" cannabis is grown by private individuals or native reservations (which have exploded as nobody will police it). It is typically sold at a store on the native reservation or via mail to order websites. Now in order for you to grow cannabis to sell to the store you have to meet a set of extremely strict criteria that range from a specific amount of acres to soil quality, to harvest techniques and warehousing. You can't grow plants over X height, need permissions from neighbouring property as flowering can be aromatic, you cannot spray or use any non-organic fertilizer, and you have to go through a series of reviews, which cost a lot of money. After that you can then grow cannabis which could be sold to a store. A store then takes that and puts it into extremely expensive special packaging that is child safe, keeps the cannabis hydrated to 65% and all kinds of stuff like that. Now stores tend to promote CBC + THC combinations where you are balanced rather than extremes towards one or the other. As well as beverages which is where I assume they make their actual money. I have no idea what kind of up sale is the average, but you don't really make much off a few people buying 3g or 9g of cannabis in any format minus beverages. Since most of it is taxes anyway. So you end up with a strong "gray market" that grows faster, and cheaper as there is no restrictions and they can spray and use what ever to grow the product faster. And they don't pay taxes. It has nothing to do with any sort of "dealer client" relationship, I don't know a single person who calls up any "dealer" and gets cannabis. Everyone I know either goes to the store and buys it or gets it online mailed to them.

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icepat 3y ago
This is rather incorrect. In Canada I knew plenty of people who still had "their guy". You're also incorrect about this being a gray market, there exists a strong black market, and you can find articles about it to this day.
- dubcanada 3y ago
  You can't have a "black market" on a product that is legal. It's called a "gray market". But that doesn't matter what it's called. On my way to work I drive by several stores on native reservations that have giant $60oz signs on the highway. These are not legal stores, they are not allowed to sell like that, I live in a province that it's only allowed for sale in the provincial liquor store. Yet they exist and people walk in all the time. No police will touch it as it's nothing but a hassle. So what does that mean? If a store can exist and sell and pay taxes, but it's not technically legal, is that not a gray market? And that's fine I don't know a single person so it's my statement versus your statement. The rest of what I said is true.
  - icepat 3y ago
    Your underlying logic is flawed. You can have a rifle, that's legal, but you can then sell a rifle outside the legal market to someone without a license. The rifle can be seized and sold on by the police. The product is not illegal. But still you call that a blackmarket firearm. You call the market you sell it on, the blackmarket. A black market is one where the transactions are occurring contra to established legal frameworks. Gray market occurs when there's legal ambiguity (ie: research chemicals like LSD mimics that are sold for "soap making" when selling for consumption would be a crime).
    - dubcanada 3y ago
      I was under the impression if a store exists, sells a product, that store is technically illegal, and it is never shut down (has existed for years) that does murk the waters quite a bit between gray and black market. That's why I believe it's much closer to gray than black. I adjusted the parent message to remove black market references. I agree with you.
      - icepat 3y ago
        I know HN generally discourages frivolous replies, but that was both a good and productive back and forth. Not something you get every day. Thanks!

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icepat 3y ago

This is rather incorrect. In Canada I knew plenty of people who still had "their guy". You're also incorrect about this being a gray market, there exists a strong black market, and you can find articles about it to this day.

dubcanada 3y ago
You can't have a "black market" on a product that is legal. It's called a "gray market". But that doesn't matter what it's called. On my way to work I drive by several stores on native reservations that have giant $60oz signs on the highway. These are not legal stores, they are not allowed to sell like that, I live in a province that it's only allowed for sale in the provincial liquor store. Yet they exist and people walk in all the time. No police will touch it as it's nothing but a hassle. So what does that mean? If a store can exist and sell and pay taxes, but it's not technically legal, is that not a gray market? And that's fine I don't know a single person so it's my statement versus your statement. The rest of what I said is true.
- icepat 3y ago
  Your underlying logic is flawed. You can have a rifle, that's legal, but you can then sell a rifle outside the legal market to someone without a license. The rifle can be seized and sold on by the police. The product is not illegal. But still you call that a blackmarket firearm. You call the market you sell it on, the blackmarket. A black market is one where the transactions are occurring contra to established legal frameworks. Gray market occurs when there's legal ambiguity (ie: research chemicals like LSD mimics that are sold for "soap making" when selling for consumption would be a crime).
  - dubcanada 3y ago
    I was under the impression if a store exists, sells a product, that store is technically illegal, and it is never shut down (has existed for years) that does murk the waters quite a bit between gray and black market. That's why I believe it's much closer to gray than black. I adjusted the parent message to remove black market references. I agree with you.
    - icepat 3y ago
      I know HN generally discourages frivolous replies, but that was both a good and productive back and forth. Not something you get every day. Thanks!