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Americans - what has legalization done to availability and cost?

TheLoveBandit

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I need some help here, as I was opening discussion in the Aussie forums and got asked a question I can't answer (I don't smoke):

What happened to cannabis prices in the states of the U.S. where it?s been legalised for recreational use? Is there still a black market for it? Is it more pricey buying from legal vendors/shops/coffee caf?s, or whatever sources y?all call them?

Can any of you guys help give better educated answers than I did? Thread is here if you can help. Thanks.
 
Colorado was the first to fully legalize about six years ago and became medically legally a few years prior to that. Medical provided a consistently higher quality, however the lack of regulations and competition did not change the pricing from the medical community to the blackmarket. It wasn't until recreational built a free market for healthy competition did the prices begin to drop, and they dropped dramatically. In just a few years after legalization in Colorado, the prices became 1/6th (or less) the price of what the blackmarket was or what the medical pricing offered. This cheap pricing is daily and the quality is top shelf. Pricing for flower, oil, THC, CBD, edibles, have all dropped insanely low without sacrificing quality. When you begin to look at special sales (black friday, 420, etc.) , the prices become even more ridiculously low, as in FREE.

Of course the blackmarket still exists in Colorado, but the only ones who survived have dramatically lowered their prices and in some desperate cases their sources are the legal shops themselves. To prevent this type of exploit, the legal market as begun to strictly enforce the one ounce a day rule. It's not easy being a dealer in the blackmarket in Colorado, and for good reasons.

Other states have similar results as Colorado, and many are just beginning the process of building a free market for legal weed. Good results don't happen over night, so many states are still trying to get their program off the ground.
 
Might want to read the thread... He was asking for help in another forum. Just sayin
 
This is America, just saying.

Availability only increased as costs plummeted.
 
Been pretty much same price, a little cheaper. Definetly more available like delivery services. And different types of products besides just the normal flower has really exploded. I lived in washington when it become legal and then in california when it became legal
 
Availability has increased, price plummeted, and the quality in general has gone way down, in Oregon.
 
The legal system in Anchorage AK was fairly lackluster a couple years ago, with limited inventory/hours amoungst the few dispensaries which were operational, but its really exploded there...I was there as of a few weeks ago and its gone from about 10 dispensaries to about 40. There isn't the same problem with keeping inventory and the prices have plummeted, as other users have mentioned.

We are truly living in the Golden Age of weed :)
 
MI, despite a few dispensaries and co-ops you are pretty much hoping someone will gift you some weed in exchange for covering there overhead. I will say I haven't seen anything but pretty darn good stuff since legalization. prices pretty steep as no major competition is set up yet. There pretty much what your 'guy' asks.
 
This is America


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Availability has increased, price plummeted, and the quality in general has gone way down, in Oregon.

First two are the same here in Michigan, but the last is the opposite. The quality has gone up way up. I wouldn't even know where to buy "regs" or "beasters" anymore.

Edit: I read wrong and didn't realize it was specifically asking about legalizing for recreational use. I would say not much has changed in Michigan because we already had medical here and the recreational distribution system has not been set up yet (you still need a medical card to use dispensaries).

So basically we have the same situation as we had before only now people without their cards don't have to worry about going to jail.
 
A quick noticeable result for me is that "loud" prices are ~1/3 what used to be.
 



I had some of his weed at the last 420 festival that was held in Colorado (few years ago). Not bad.
 
First two are the same here in Michigan, but the last is the opposite. The quality has gone up way up. I wouldn't even know where to buy "regs" or "beasters" anymore.

Edit: I read wrong and didn't realize it was specifically asking about legalizing for recreational use. I would say not much has changed in Michigan because we already had medical here and the recreational distribution system has not been set up yet (you still need a medical card to use dispensaries).

So basically we have the same situation as we had before only now people without their cards don't have to worry about going to jail.


This. Not only is top shelf weed very affordable now, ($10/g nowadays vs $20/g a decade ago) the market for "Regs" or "Shwag" has pretty much dissapeared. Even the quality of mid-grade weed is almost indistinguishable from legitimate strains.
 
In Canada, it’s only been legal for ~4 months.

Black Market availability : slightly down. Street dealer Dave called it quits
Black Market price: waaaaay down from what I have available; in some cases 50%
Selections remain unchanged.

The legal stuff from the stores is another matter. Shortages (still) that are likely to continue until Health Canada lightens up on licensing ( you HAVE to be licensed federally). Prices range from obscene (compared to black market) to reasonable. Unlike Colorado, Washington or Oregon there won’t be a free fall in price for at least a couple of years (if ever). If retail prices start to fall, the government will up the taxes. It’s the Canadian way.

Oh yeah, the quality of the legal product ranges from shit to half decent shit. Usually over dry.

Tom
 
The city I live at in California has old school prices... They charge 300 an ounce and 200 an ounce which is kind of a rip off when the cost of a pound in oregon from the growers is like $450. SO either the growers are only selling it for like 2500 to 4000 here or the shops are freaking over priced. I think they should reduce the price or no one buys from them.
 
Now that I buy through corporate "big pot" in California, the prices are usually 30 percent higher than the black market was.

There are no more street dealers anymore.

America took marijuana and gave it away to corporate interests, hurting the little guy...its what america does with everything, rob from the poor give to the rich.
 
Now that I buy through corporate "big pot" in California, the prices are usually 30 percent higher than the black market was.

There are no more street dealers anymore.

America took marijuana and gave it away to corporate interests, hurting the little guy...its what america does with everything, rob from the poor give to the rich.

Really? 30 percent higher?

That's crazy. I've found the prices in the legal market, especially on some specialty items...for example, I bought a gram of wax the other day at a local dispensary for just over 50 dollars...in the black market era that would've easily cost 80-100, if you were lucky enough to find someone selling it.

The weed I've found is about what you'd find in the black market, within a 5-10 dollar range. The prices have really dropped in recent years...I greatly prefer our present era of weed to the one that came before it, but that's just IMO
 
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