California Cannabis Legalisation Failure: Black Market Volumes Surge Despite Legal Dispensaries: New data reveals California cannabis legalisation failure as black market volumes increase by 20% whilst consumption soars among heavy users - A comprehensive report on California’s cannabis market has delivered a damning verdict on the state’s cannabis legalisation failure, revealing that the promised elimination of criminal drug networks has spectacularly failed to materialise. Instead, the data shows that black market volumes have actually increased whilst overall consumption has rocketed by 90%.
Consumption Explosion Undermines Public Health Claims
The data reveals another concerning aspect of the California cannabis legalisation failure that undermines public health arguments. The 90% increase in consumption since 2017 has been “primarily driven by an increase in heavy cannabis users,” according to the report’s findings.
This contradicts assurances from legalisation proponents that regulated markets would promote responsible use. Instead, the evidence suggests that legal availability has enabled existing users to dramatically increase their consumption levels, with obvious implications for dependency and associated health harms.
The report notes that California’s per capita consumption remains “still lower than in states that legalised recreational cannabis before California,” suggesting that further increases may be inevitable as this policy continues to unfold.
Economic Incentives Favour Criminal Networks
Whilst criminal organisations face some pricing pressure from legal competition, the California cannabis legalisation failure report suggests they may actually benefit from reduced operational costs. Operating “from within the cover of a wider legal market” appears to have made distribution and production easier for illegal suppliers.
The document notes that wholesale prices have declined substantially, which from a public health perspective represents a particularly troubling development, as “cheaper drug drives up use & harms.”
(And we want to bring this disaster into Australia!) (Source: WRD News)
