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Comment by ksaj | Hacker News Reader

Canada is essentially having this same problem. CannTrust is an example of a legal pot company that got caught growing and storing illegal pot.

The same problem applies: the taxes, and basing all the prices on the gram street value instead of allowing for scale, like with street Ounce pricing. Lots of people pay $10 for a dime bag, but nobody pays $280 for an ounce on the street unless it is truly spectacular...

Likewise, since legal weed isn't sold in dime bags, the prices shouldn't be based on dime bags... especially if you are buying a large amount. Even beer pricing works that way (the difference in price between a single can or bottle, and the per unit price of a 24 case is significant.)

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I had assumed they the prices were set by the market, and were high because the legal pot market is still very small and at several kinds of disadvantage compared to the illegal one.

Are you saying the prices are instead set by the state? Or are you just referring to taxes?

Never been to Canada, but the taxes appear to be a % of sales price, not a per-gram basis: https://www.canada.ca/en/revenue-agency/services/forms-publi...

The taxes are on the dollar cost, and at least in Ontario, hidden in the price tag (as it is with alcohol, lottery tickets and gasoline).

But it is a major part of the price, and everything to do with how upon legalization, it immediately became more expensive than buying illegally. This is despite assurances that the pricing would make it more competitive, and remove the incentive to street purchases.

They decided early on that it should be round or about $10/g. People who voted for this didn't seem to pay attention to the fact that sure, a dime bag might cost $10, but the price of a half-quarter, quarter, half, or ounce gets progressively cheaper per gram.

So now we easily spend about $280 for an ounce of blah, when on the street you can get $210 for something that'll blow your mind.

Mostly in Canada, only people getting medical marijuana and on disability (compassionate pricing) get prices that are on par with street value.

> I had assumed they the prices were set by the market

How could this be the case when the Government distorts the market by price controls, subsidies, regulations, and so on?

There's enough people willing to pay $10/gram for legal weed, and limited enough supply, that there's no impetus to charge less. Why would they?

In my non-legal mid-western state, quality indoor (I suppose you could call it spectacular) fetches $300/oz all day long.

> enough people

I think the proper denominator here is kg of product, not number of people.

Yes, the occasional consumers don’t care about 8 or 12$/g, but the heavy consumers do, and they’re the bulk of the market in terms of consumption.

It would take a single person quite a while to consume a kg, but I can't deny the accuracy of what you are saying. The problem is they are pretending everyone has only ever bought dime bags. You're looking a scale higher than I was, but over time I'd expect your idea to be the absolute norm. If that's what it's worth... then that's what it's worth.

Well, I guess at least we're cheaper than that since $300 will easily get you 30g at the legal venues. (an ounce is 28g) Still, on the street that is quite a crazy price to pay for it, since an ounce is much close to $200 than 3.

Even that’s kinda expensive. An online vendor I’m familiar with has regular specials for CAD$150/oz (~US$112), free express shipping and they usually throw in a sample or two.

And unlike the legal suppliers, plenty of edibles.

Yes, exactly. When "the Prince of Pot" Marc Emery had his stores in Toronto, it was pretty easy to get $150/oz of rather good product. They, as well as plenty of others had some amazing specials to always ensure there was something for everyone. And their $150/oz specials were far from ditch weed. Good all around for everyone.

The government is slow to catch up with underground etiquette, I guess. We'll get there eventually. Nobody is selling moonshine at cheap prices around these here parts anymore.

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