6 ms·

'Time for them to perform due diligence and refactor their operations to take advantage of the new legal landscape to retain competitive pricing inorder for' al

'Time for them to perform due diligence and refactor their operations to take advantage of the new legal landscape to retain competitive pricing inorder for' all these small/mid sized businesses don't get gulped up by big tobacco or other mega corps.

pm90 2y ago
American corporations are great at retooling their business/supply chains for different products (see how quickly everyone moved into hard seltzers). I do expect big tobacco to move in aggressively if weed is made legal.
- Scoundreller 2y ago
  Hasn’t really happened in Canada. I think a small-player alcohol company did move in, but only after the bubble popped. Turns out legalization of a drug doesn’t lead to massive increases in consumption. Who knew. Definitely kneecapped the black market though: most moved to the legal side and black market prices cratered.
  - cooper_ganglia 2y ago
    Lobbyists don't care about uncapturable black market money. The legal market has led to massive increase in legal, taxable money, so now is exactly the time for big tobacco to start salivating over the idea of capturing all of those transactions.
  - mminer237 2y ago
    Marijuana use has massively increased in the US as states have legalized it. Users have doubled: https://www.statista.com/statistics/264862/cannabis-consumption-in-the-us-since-2002/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/264862/cannabis-consumpt... Use among users has also increased 20%: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/962353 https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/962353
    - Retric 2y ago
      20% increase in consumption isn’t exactly what I would call massive. Looking at historic trends the point where pot was first legalized for recreational use isn’t obvious. If anything the long term upward tends started long before legalization which didn’t seem to have significant impact. https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-020-8253-4#rightslink https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s...
      - ghaff 2y ago
        I’m surprised it’s not more personally if the numbers are accurate. A lot of pretty casual users in professional jobs were mostly not going to find a friend of a friend to do an illegal transaction with. But they’ll go into a dispensary now and then. But you really see that reflected in the doubled number of users which is probably the more relevant number.
    - otherme123 2y ago
      If I could face consequences for using drugs, I will deny it even after being positive in a test. Of course, once legalized, I'll have no problem saying that I used in once or twice a year. Being it legal, safer and out of the dangerous black market, there will be some new users. Same happened after alcohol prohibition: more people consumed after the ban was lifted, but consumption was safer. But rarely people that didn't consume during the prohibition went on alcohol binge after the end of the ban. They just drank a couple of beers per week, maybe even a glass of bourbon twice a year, now that they can buy and consume it safely. Thus the stats you linked doesn't necesarily show a "massive" increase in use, but many people using it sparsely now and many people now admiting to use it that were using previously. In fact, while statista.com shows a 100% increase, the second and more controlled study shows only a ~20% increase that makes more sense (far from massive).
    - pseudosavant 2y ago
      I'd bet alcohol use went way up after prohibition too. Both in number of people consuming, and on how much they consume on average. I've personally known people with terminal cancer who wouldn't use marijuana to manage pain and nausea because it is federally illegal. They suffered more than they should have. Is lower use always good?
  - The_Blade 2y ago
    Denver definitely had perverse consequence. people eking out a living selling weed on the street quickly turned to... harder substances. people will get their dollar and people will get their high
    - deleted 2y ago
      [deleted]
  - jiayo 2y ago
    Big tobacco might have stayed out of the fray but since legalization the vape giant JUUL owns and operates dispensaries.
    - rascul 2y ago
      Juul is Big Tobacco.
    - dbtc 2y ago
      > Altria Group (formerly Philip Morris Companies), acquired a 35% stake in Juul Labs for $12.8 billion on December 20, 2018. Altria is the largest tobacco company in the United States. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juul https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juul
- jerlam 2y ago
  Hopefully, the small/mid sized businesses hold a niche in the same way that craft brewers have maintained their existence (until they get acquired).
- chrisweekly 2y ago
  Agreed -- but I think nobody knows quite how it'll play out. I think of the thriving microbrewery scene (vs not just Budweiser et al but so-called "premium" beers from megabreweries that don't hold a candle to the local stuff). I also wonder about the degree to which psilocybin might be following THC's path, wrt state vs federal laws....
- tensility 2y ago
  Pabst already makes THC seltzers for the California market. Big business is already here, folks.

pm90 2y ago

American corporations are great at retooling their business/supply chains for different products (see how quickly everyone moved into hard seltzers). I do expect big tobacco to move in aggressively if weed is made legal.

Scoundreller 2y ago
Hasn’t really happened in Canada. I think a small-player alcohol company did move in, but only after the bubble popped. Turns out legalization of a drug doesn’t lead to massive increases in consumption. Who knew. Definitely kneecapped the black market though: most moved to the legal side and black market prices cratered.
- cooper_ganglia 2y ago
  Lobbyists don't care about uncapturable black market money. The legal market has led to massive increase in legal, taxable money, so now is exactly the time for big tobacco to start salivating over the idea of capturing all of those transactions.
- mminer237 2y ago
  Marijuana use has massively increased in the US as states have legalized it. Users have doubled: https://www.statista.com/statistics/264862/cannabis-consumption-in-the-us-since-2002/ https://www.statista.com/statistics/264862/cannabis-consumpt... Use among users has also increased 20%: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/962353 https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/962353
  - Retric 2y ago
    20% increase in consumption isn’t exactly what I would call massive. Looking at historic trends the point where pot was first legalized for recreational use isn’t obvious. If anything the long term upward tends started long before legalization which didn’t seem to have significant impact. https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-020-8253-4#rightslink https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s...
    - ghaff 2y ago
      I’m surprised it’s not more personally if the numbers are accurate. A lot of pretty casual users in professional jobs were mostly not going to find a friend of a friend to do an illegal transaction with. But they’ll go into a dispensary now and then. But you really see that reflected in the doubled number of users which is probably the more relevant number.
  - otherme123 2y ago
    If I could face consequences for using drugs, I will deny it even after being positive in a test. Of course, once legalized, I'll have no problem saying that I used in once or twice a year. Being it legal, safer and out of the dangerous black market, there will be some new users. Same happened after alcohol prohibition: more people consumed after the ban was lifted, but consumption was safer. But rarely people that didn't consume during the prohibition went on alcohol binge after the end of the ban. They just drank a couple of beers per week, maybe even a glass of bourbon twice a year, now that they can buy and consume it safely. Thus the stats you linked doesn't necesarily show a "massive" increase in use, but many people using it sparsely now and many people now admiting to use it that were using previously. In fact, while statista.com shows a 100% increase, the second and more controlled study shows only a ~20% increase that makes more sense (far from massive).
  - pseudosavant 2y ago
    I'd bet alcohol use went way up after prohibition too. Both in number of people consuming, and on how much they consume on average. I've personally known people with terminal cancer who wouldn't use marijuana to manage pain and nausea because it is federally illegal. They suffered more than they should have. Is lower use always good?
- The_Blade 2y ago
  Denver definitely had perverse consequence. people eking out a living selling weed on the street quickly turned to... harder substances. people will get their dollar and people will get their high
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
- jiayo 2y ago
  Big tobacco might have stayed out of the fray but since legalization the vape giant JUUL owns and operates dispensaries.
  - rascul 2y ago
    Juul is Big Tobacco.
  - dbtc 2y ago
    > Altria Group (formerly Philip Morris Companies), acquired a 35% stake in Juul Labs for $12.8 billion on December 20, 2018. Altria is the largest tobacco company in the United States. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juul https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Juul
jerlam 2y ago
Hopefully, the small/mid sized businesses hold a niche in the same way that craft brewers have maintained their existence (until they get acquired).
chrisweekly 2y ago
Agreed -- but I think nobody knows quite how it'll play out. I think of the thriving microbrewery scene (vs not just Budweiser et al but so-called "premium" beers from megabreweries that don't hold a candle to the local stuff). I also wonder about the degree to which psilocybin might be following THC's path, wrt state vs federal laws....
tensility 2y ago
Pabst already makes THC seltzers for the California market. Big business is already here, folks.