Here in Canada where we pride ourselves on being ahead of the curve (heavy on the sarcasm here), we went through the illegal-weed-shops-on-every-block, and are now into the well-lit and upscale legit shops on every block, plus a smattering of seedy shadow operations. Apparently it's been a financial bust for the govt, and i've heard it pushed a lot of 'legacy' dealers into selling harder product -- but of course, it's complicated! Now, every other block (here in BC at least) has a glitzy store selling mushrooms and psilocybin products, and some even advertising MDMA and DMT. All of which are still "illegal" here, though decriminalized for possession of small personal amounts. We see where this is headed, I think ... but who knows, it's a brave new world ...
As someone that had been in cannabis for 15 years until I closed my licensed delivery service last year in California, I was impressed by how much this show got right. A lot of the more basic news articles about what happened/is happening lose a lot of the critical nuance. Sure there's more details that they had to skip over in the interest of time, but it was well done and very accurate to what I know. I have a lot of friends like myself from the legacy market, and we all made a pretty bad bet by going legit. I feel guilty for pushing so many to get licensed. I even know someone who started an emotional support group for legacy/social equity operators that tried to do licensed cannabis!
Hi! Long time listener of the show. I live in New York and I feel like every time I walk by these illegal weed stores lately they are mostly empty? Has anyone else noticed that? Am I just always looking at the wrong time? I feel like the supply of stores outnumbers demand or it will soon, but it’s just a hunch. And every time I talk to people anecdotally (even my biggest stoner friends) it seems like they want more of the regular bodegas back or really just anything else. It’s way easier to get weed in my neighborhood now than to do laundry or get a sandwich but I feel like I never really see many people inside the illegal weed stores either. Any data on this would be great! Is business booming still compared to the amount of stores that have popped up? Are we headed for an illegal weed store bubble? Thank you!! Love love love the show.
Really enjoying this episode. I was curious about something... You are doing a terrific job pointing out that given the lack of Federal guidance each state has had to try to figure it out on their own and highlighting where NY stumbled. Would it be possible to do an episode on how to do it right? Granted the negative is always more interesting than the positive, but...
I live just outside Portland OR and have lived here since the mid 90s. So, I voted for legal weed and watched closely as it was rolled out. For me, it seems Oregon has avoided many of the problems Colorado, Washington, and California ran into when rolling out legal weed. I was wondering your opinion on the matter. Is this just my perception, or has OR done a good job?
I think we've had an easier time because the state has tight regulations on alcohol (all liquor stores are fundamentally franchised state run), and the population is much smaller. Also, I feel the state has done a good job setting up the market place + figured out what to do about edibles (I have many friends that some out of state from CA/WA to buy here; they say our are way better).
In Pennsylvania in the medical program, you're not allowed to "combust" the cannabis. Meaning, you can't take fire to it and let it emit smoke. You have to "vape" the flower using a special device, like a PAX or a Volcano. This means if you want to buy flower, you can't get pre-rolls, papers, lighters, etc at the medical dispensary. You're not allowed to smoke it, legally you're doing something dubious with it. Also, you have to give up your 2nd amendment right to own a gun – because cannabis smokers are notoriously trigger happy as opposed to lets say alcoholics or your average gun-toting american.
Forgot to add this in my previous comment for context, I did not know DC has a so called “gray market” for weed, where it’s legal so give weed away for free, but not sell it, so a lot of places will “gift” weed with a purchase of a different product. Medical marijuana is legal to sell at brick & mortar store fronts. So this still leads to weed still effectively being sold illegally outside of medical shops.
I’m from Minnesota, where the legislature accidentally legalized low-dose THC gummies and beverages a couple years ago! It was so funny to see a host of local breweries roll out THC seltzers all of a sudden, and the seltzers and gummies were super cheap for a while because there was no special tax on them. By now, the legislature has officially legalized cannabis and installed a weed tax, but we won’t have widespread public dispensaries until ~2025.
My question is: Why do some states or businesses require people to use cash to purchase weed? I went to a dispensary in Chicago that required cash and had several ATMs set up for patrons. A couple liquor stores in MN sell gummies/seltzers but require customers to use cash to purchase them. I don’t understand why any legal purchase would need to be made using paper money instead of electronic money.
Visa, Mastercard, etc refuse to allow their cards to be used in the purchase of cannabis. This is presumably because of the risk they think they face because it is still federally illegal. Some cannabis stores have found work arounds, but they're not great and don't usually last long.
I just used my Visa to buy a THC/CBD seltzer from a co-op grocery store today :) But maybe Visa's fine with that because it's hemp-derived delta-9 THC (versus cannabis-derived THC)?
Its still not legal. Until federal laws change financial institutions will not engage. I am in Canada. Just found an illegal online dispensary which accepts credit card payments which astonished me. So far I have not been visited by law enforcement. 😁
Here in Canada where we pride ourselves on being ahead of the curve (heavy on the sarcasm here), we went through the illegal-weed-shops-on-every-block, and are now into the well-lit and upscale legit shops on every block, plus a smattering of seedy shadow operations. Apparently it's been a financial bust for the govt, and i've heard it pushed a lot of 'legacy' dealers into selling harder product -- but of course, it's complicated! Now, every other block (here in BC at least) has a glitzy store selling mushrooms and psilocybin products, and some even advertising MDMA and DMT. All of which are still "illegal" here, though decriminalized for possession of small personal amounts. We see where this is headed, I think ... but who knows, it's a brave new world ...
As someone that had been in cannabis for 15 years until I closed my licensed delivery service last year in California, I was impressed by how much this show got right. A lot of the more basic news articles about what happened/is happening lose a lot of the critical nuance. Sure there's more details that they had to skip over in the interest of time, but it was well done and very accurate to what I know. I have a lot of friends like myself from the legacy market, and we all made a pretty bad bet by going legit. I feel guilty for pushing so many to get licensed. I even know someone who started an emotional support group for legacy/social equity operators that tried to do licensed cannabis!
Hi PJ & searcher team! OK, so… I am the woman that is being interviewed is this NBC4 TV news story last year:
https://www.nbcwashington.com/news/local/dc-homes-doorbell-cam-shows-people-looking-for-pot-at-fake-listing-address/3281665/
Happy to chat more! It was one of the more bizarre and (initially very terrifying) experiences I’ve had living in DC!
Hi! Long time listener of the show. I live in New York and I feel like every time I walk by these illegal weed stores lately they are mostly empty? Has anyone else noticed that? Am I just always looking at the wrong time? I feel like the supply of stores outnumbers demand or it will soon, but it’s just a hunch. And every time I talk to people anecdotally (even my biggest stoner friends) it seems like they want more of the regular bodegas back or really just anything else. It’s way easier to get weed in my neighborhood now than to do laundry or get a sandwich but I feel like I never really see many people inside the illegal weed stores either. Any data on this would be great! Is business booming still compared to the amount of stores that have popped up? Are we headed for an illegal weed store bubble? Thank you!! Love love love the show.
Really enjoying this episode. I was curious about something... You are doing a terrific job pointing out that given the lack of Federal guidance each state has had to try to figure it out on their own and highlighting where NY stumbled. Would it be possible to do an episode on how to do it right? Granted the negative is always more interesting than the positive, but...
I live just outside Portland OR and have lived here since the mid 90s. So, I voted for legal weed and watched closely as it was rolled out. For me, it seems Oregon has avoided many of the problems Colorado, Washington, and California ran into when rolling out legal weed. I was wondering your opinion on the matter. Is this just my perception, or has OR done a good job?
I think we've had an easier time because the state has tight regulations on alcohol (all liquor stores are fundamentally franchised state run), and the population is much smaller. Also, I feel the state has done a good job setting up the market place + figured out what to do about edibles (I have many friends that some out of state from CA/WA to buy here; they say our are way better).
Always fascinating and informative. Thank you so much for sharing.
In Pennsylvania in the medical program, you're not allowed to "combust" the cannabis. Meaning, you can't take fire to it and let it emit smoke. You have to "vape" the flower using a special device, like a PAX or a Volcano. This means if you want to buy flower, you can't get pre-rolls, papers, lighters, etc at the medical dispensary. You're not allowed to smoke it, legally you're doing something dubious with it. Also, you have to give up your 2nd amendment right to own a gun – because cannabis smokers are notoriously trigger happy as opposed to lets say alcoholics or your average gun-toting american.
Sources because I made claims:
https://www.pennmedicine.org/for-patients-and-visitors/patient-information/medical-marijuana-therapy/medical-marijuana-faqs
https://www.yourerie.com/news/pennsylvania-news/legislation-to-amend-pennsylvanias-firearm-law-for-medical-marijuana-introduced/
Forgot to add this in my previous comment for context, I did not know DC has a so called “gray market” for weed, where it’s legal so give weed away for free, but not sell it, so a lot of places will “gift” weed with a purchase of a different product. Medical marijuana is legal to sell at brick & mortar store fronts. So this still leads to weed still effectively being sold illegally outside of medical shops.
I’m from Minnesota, where the legislature accidentally legalized low-dose THC gummies and beverages a couple years ago! It was so funny to see a host of local breweries roll out THC seltzers all of a sudden, and the seltzers and gummies were super cheap for a while because there was no special tax on them. By now, the legislature has officially legalized cannabis and installed a weed tax, but we won’t have widespread public dispensaries until ~2025.
My question is: Why do some states or businesses require people to use cash to purchase weed? I went to a dispensary in Chicago that required cash and had several ATMs set up for patrons. A couple liquor stores in MN sell gummies/seltzers but require customers to use cash to purchase them. I don’t understand why any legal purchase would need to be made using paper money instead of electronic money.
Visa, Mastercard, etc refuse to allow their cards to be used in the purchase of cannabis. This is presumably because of the risk they think they face because it is still federally illegal. Some cannabis stores have found work arounds, but they're not great and don't usually last long.
I just used my Visa to buy a THC/CBD seltzer from a co-op grocery store today :) But maybe Visa's fine with that because it's hemp-derived delta-9 THC (versus cannabis-derived THC)?
Its still not legal. Until federal laws change financial institutions will not engage. I am in Canada. Just found an illegal online dispensary which accepts credit card payments which astonished me. So far I have not been visited by law enforcement. 😁
Odd! Because most spots selling gummies and/or seltzers in Minnesota will accept credit/debit cards for those purchases.
This is a great episode! Looking forward to part 2!