The result is that the illegal market dwarfs the legal market. The legal suppliers simply can't compete with efficient and untaxed illegal or grey market sellers.
Note that the consumers who choose the illegal market are not in general socially excluded, habitual criminals or broken down addicts. Weed is widespread in almost all parts of society and probably less prevalent along dirt poor, mentally unwell or homeless drug users, who favour fent or meth.
People with jobs and houses choose illegal weed because it's both cheaper and easier to get hold of.
However, this also highlights the primary difference between weed and meth, opiates: ease of manufacturing. The only other common drugs that come close are things like mushrooms and fermented beverages, and I'd argue both of those are still riskier.
Which basically means the US hasn't really tried legalizing it at all.
(Not advocating for any position here, just commenting on the facts.)
> The result is that the illegal market dwarfs the legal market. The legal suppliers simply can't compete with efficient and untaxed illegal or grey market sellers.
Even with California taxes an 1/8th of flower is often less than half what I’d typically pay back in 2008 or so, even without adjusting for inflation.
Also, I suspect middle class buying preference in the last decade or so has heavily shifted to gummies/edibles and vape carts which are much sketchier in the black market vs relatively interchangeable flower.
The idea of smoking a literal bowl to get high wouldn’t even be in the first like 5 methods among the people I know. It’s not super appealing in your 30s-40s while living in apartments/not wanting to reek of weed in the office. So buying off the black market just isn’t attractive even if possible cheaper.