Legal cannabis is in short supply and about 25% more expensive than its black market counterpart in Colorado. If legal cannabis is as heavily regulated (and taxed) elsewhere as it is in Colorado, do we expect the black market to disappear?

Legal cannabis is in short supply and about 25% more expensive than its black market counterpart in Colorado. If legal cannabis is as heavily regulated (and taxed) elsewhere as it is in Colorado, do we expect the black market to disappear?

The risk of getting my ski pass yanked has always been a solid motivator for me when it comes to following the rules.

is it too naive to think legalization will kill the black market? assuming the laws have realistic limits on what u can grow and how much you can have on you, etc.

it killed bootleg alcohol enterprise...

really just depends on how accessible and affordable it becomes. people like convenience and while growing your own is an option, it's going to be a lot easier to go to your local pot store and buy it at a jacked up price.

While the cover of legality has value, at some point it can be quantified. Maybe at 25% it's worth it. On the other hand, NYC's cigarette tax has proven to be so high as to make illicit cigarettes more common than legal ones. Either way, if we go the legalization route, as I hope we will, it behooves the powers that be to make sure compliance is cheap and straightforward.

cigarettes don't get you high or drunk, though.

what do people pay for a gram of cocaine? or whatever the modern equivalent of that is these days...

if weed is made legal on a large scale over the next 20-30 years, the market will even out as public opinion begins to turn (and old people begin to die, removing the paranoid contingent etc).

I still think as it becomes more socially acceptable there won't be much difference between buying liquor and buying weed.

malice gets it. You can't fight the growing trend of public opinion.

Seriously though? I feel like the black market will quickly catch up in price. No tax on top of the sale is just as tasty of a deal for people as low priced taxed marijuana. Pretty sure that model is why there was a "wholesaler" tax of 15% built in.

Couldn't figure it out why earlier because the marijuana market is a vertical model. Technically there are no "wholesalers" only direct retail. Retailers have to grow more than half of their own product. I don't think there is honestly enough demand by local folks to buy - so we're looking at a tourist industry mostly and only as long as it hasn't been legalized in neighboring states.

You can't smoke anywhere but in your own home. And you're screwed if you ever drive while you're an avid enjoyer of marijuana. If you are found in possession on federal land, you could get your ski pass yanked.


They're pushing this thing into the caves, really.

I'm glad they put in the pot impaired driving laws. It sucks that the method they use is poor. Maybe this will prompt the discovery of a good and easy to use impairment standard like the blood alcohol level machines. Those suck because they have nothing to do with impairment and only to do with congestion of alcohol. Drivers have gotten used to them and adjusted accorsingly, I'm sure pot smokers can as well.

Legalize it and tax. I love it.

This is funny to me. I really dont think it will be an issue considering people have been smoking a shit ton of pot on the hill since the beginning of the industry! Vail resorts has said they aren't going to hunt for it but if you are being blatant and doing it in the open or next to a ski patroller...then you are gone. Same goes for alcohol rules on the mountain as well. The driving laws are what is most frightening. I may be the only person in Colorado that doesn't smoke pot, but the driving while impaired laws are setup to make a shit ton of money for the state! So, good luck to my friends :\

January 1st, bright and early, a shit ton of signs on vail mountain were posted reminding people that it is sitll illegal to smoke in public. I thought that was pretty funny. There have always been signs for no alcohol too but ...