Cannabis, weed, marijuana, whatever you want to call it, it became legal a week ago in Canada, on October seventeenth (17th). And while that's massive news in its own right, the thing that was immensely interesting to me is: what would happen once it was legal? And now there's a whole lot of news surrounding this legalization. And the first place I'll start is with some numbers.
Unsurprisingly, there's been huge sales numbers and actually, even some shortages. According to one estimate, there were at least a hundred and eleven (111) shops opening on the first day. SQDC, a manager of sales in Quebec, recorded more than twelve thousand, five hundred (12,500) in-store transactions and thirty thousand (30,000) online orders. But, that also meant that they rapidly ran out of products.
Another company on the other side of the country, Manitoba Liquor and Lotteries, they warned that shortages for some of their products may last for months.
And then you have Bill Blair, a Canadian legislator that quite solidly spearheaded the push for marijuana legalization, saying:
But, with that said, I do think that the strain on the supply might actually be pretty serious. Matter-of-factly, some stores on Edmonton have already had to close their doors. Also, other store owners on Alberta for example, are allowed to order from the Alberta Gaming Liquor and Cannabis Commission, but, we saw one owner saying that the website has no products to offer anymore.
So, there's that situation and those numbers, but what about the money? Well, we have one producer, Alcanna, that operates five (5) stores in Alberta, said it made one point three million dollars ($1.3 million) in the first five days of operations. And, reportedly, that was from about seventeen thousand (17,000) separate sales.
Also, on the first day of sales, the Alberta Cannabis website which is the only legal online source for ordering weed in that province, they said they sold seven hundred, thirty thousand dollars ($730,000) worth of products.
Furthermore, while we're still on the money, there's a little bit of misinformation floating around. There's a report out there saying that Canada was able to pay off its entire federal debt in one day because of this—which would be astronomically amazing considering that would be around six hundred, sixty billion dollars ($660 billion)! But, it is so not true. In fact, the report came from The Daily Bonnet which is a frigging satire website.
So, if you fell for that article, now you know what it feels like to be one of those people that cheers an Onion article thinking that it's real.
With that said, regarding money, it is expected that there is going to be a ton of it. The ArcView Group, which is a Cannabis Investment Market Research Company, predicts that legal weed will bring in one point three billion dollars ($1.3 billion) in 2018 alone! More correctly speaking, before the year runs out!
And it might also interest you to know that that's only a fraction of the estimated market for cannabis! Statistics Canada estimates that Canadians spend about four point four billion dollars ($4.4 billion) per year on cannabis!
Moreso, the aforementioned ArcView Group estimates that five hundred, seventy million ($570 million) was spent on legal medical marijuana in 2017!
Fundamentally, it hasn't been all rainbows and sunshine. Along with the massive sales and shortages, there's been plenty of complaints and incredibly irksome issues popping up. Some customers complain that online deliveries weren't working at all, that there were changes in shipping estimates, wrong products were sent, there was no follow-up; not only that, there's also been a rotating strike at the Canadian Postal Service—which has affected delivery times as well.
There are also concrete concerns around pricing. Some people believe that increased prices due to taxes and regulations could drive people away. In fact, according to a Global News Ipsos poll, before legalization, about four out of ten Canadians stated that price was the determining factor as to whether they'd buy legally or on the black market.
Additionally, about thirty six percent (36%) of respondents said that they'd get their products from the same place as before legalization.
Proportionately (and proportionally), we've seen people complaining about excessive packaging. Reportedly, some products came with seventy grams (70g) of plastic, foil and cardboard for just one gram (1g) of cannabis.
So, technically, the concerns and hiccups here and there just might cause, or rather prompt people to turn to, or simply stick to the black market for cannabis.
In addition to all of this, there's also concern for some growers. The CDC spoke to some growers who have been growing for decades and they both know that legal medical marijuana drastically drove their profits down due to the abundance of growers and products.
Consequently, the result was either you went out of business, or you got bigger to deal with it. And I will say, in all candor, that it's this last part that's one of the things that rankles me most regarding (this) legalization.
Basically, what we have here, is growers and/or people who have been super supportive of the marijuana legalization movement—for decades—and as the movement matures and is finally successful, you start seeing decriminalization and legalization. All of a sudden, there's all this opportunity, golden and all that brass. Much bigger groups that want to take absolute advantage of all of the new, massive demand jump right in and potentially put these little guys out of business.
Ultimately, you end up having people who tried to get this thing to happen and accomplished it and the side effect is it hurts them terribly bad. Maybe it's just me.
Long story short, it's only been a fortnight and some change, so we'd just have to wait and see the long term effects.
Still and all, regarding marijuana legalization, or any of the complaints, or other issues here, I'd really love to know your thoughts.
