It is one of several illegal cannabis stores still operating in Vancouver more than 18 months after marijuana was legalized in Canada. And even though provincial regulators seized products at King Canna on May 27, it remained open for business this week.Dozens of websites sell a variety of cannabis products offering to deliver in an hour or less — even though door-to-door pot delivery is illegal in Canada.
“We know that there’s still the illegal stores up and operating,” Farnworth said recently. “The community safety unit has been out. They initially do site visits … saying ‘Hey, here’s the rules. And if you don’t abide by them, then we will be paying you additional visits. There will be confiscation of product and administrative fines.’”Article content continued
“So there is a significant retail presence across the province, though there are still holes, particularly in the Lower Mainland,” Farnworth said. Shutting down the illegal stores, he said, will “take time.”Article content continued He thinks consumers need to take more responsibility to find out which sources are legal and which are still black market.Article content continued
Adam Greenblatt, of Canopy Growth, said he thinks that cuts by cannabis companies have more to do with the industry responding to “real data” 18 months into legalization than the impact of the black market.Article content continued While the B.C. government is working to shut down illegal storefronts, it hasn’t been able to control the explosion of illegal online cannabis sites offering both delivery service and mail order pot.Article content continued
“It is one thing to be able to walk into a storefront and seize product and give somebody a fine. It is quite a different thing to have to determine where they’re located and where they’re sourcing their product, how they’re doing the delivery,” she said. “I think that in B.C. we can continue to really struggle with the project of legalization generally.”Article content continued
The chiefs’ association is part of a working group with Health Canada and the federal Public Safety Department that is continually strategizing on how to tackle the black market, Serr said. She said the surplus from the medical growers “makes up the majority of the illicit cannabis in Canada in my opinion.”
“We’ve had an industry that has been entrenched for so long. One of the challenges is, how do you want to deal with that component which is linked to organized crime and get that shut down? And the second is, how do you bring growers into the legal market, particularly in areas of the province where it’s been very well established for a very long time,” Farnworth said.Article content continued
It wasn't a smooth transition from booze prohibition either and that was something recently legal. This will take years to work itself out and you can expect 'bootlegger' dealers to still exist decades from now. These kinds of changes don't happen at the speed of Twitter.
Because federal/provincial levels were lame and inconsistent amongst themselves.
Cause they did it so badly 😂 I'd rather get good fresh stuff from the neighborhood black market dealer for a reasonable price than dry dusty nonsense for way too much money.
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