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Even after we had cannabis legalization here, my province in particular passed laws capping all cannabis products sold legally in the province by the government-run stores at 30% THC. While this is plenty THC for flower, it pretty much nullifies as a category concentrates (hash, wax, shatter, resin, rosin, THC crystals... as well as THC vapes). For an alcohol comparison, it's like they made alcohol legal only as long it was at most 10% alcohol (20 proof), the alcohol percentage of a strong beer. The result is that, when I was a regular cannabis consumer, I would get those products from the black/gray market, despite legalization.
Price was, though, comparable between the government-run stores and the black/gray market for flowers.
Interesting. So perhaps legalization + deregulation is the way to go if you're going to legalize at all, otherwise don't legalize.
I think you mostly have to make sure your regulations actually align with your stated goals and don't become at odds with themselves. Our provincial government chose to legalize only through government-run stores mostly because they wanted the public has a safe product sold in a responsible environment. If your regulations push them back to the black market, then that's a fail in that respect.
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That’s actually what happened almost immediately after Prohibition, yeah. Some areas allowed the sale of 3% beer.
Today there are still Byzantine regulations on which stores can sell what percentages.
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