A year after pot legalization in Canada, it's a slow roll
Posted October 16, 2019 7:00 am
VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) - It's one year into Canada's experiment in legal marijuana. Many residents remain proud of Canada for bucking prohibition, but a lot still buy cannabis on the sly. Access is limited and taxes and other issues mean high-quality bud can cost nearly twice what it did before legalization.
First-year legal sales are expected to be about $1 billion, a fraction of the estimated total market. Kinks abound, from what many consider wasteful packaging requirements and uneven quality to the slow pace of licensing stores and growers across most of the country.
But officials promised legalization would be a process, not an event. They expect to work out the issues as the market matures.
In this Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019 photo, samples of marijuana, in tamper-proof containers that are secured with cables, are displayed at Evergreen Cannabis, a marijuana retail shop, in Vancouver, B.C. The nation has seen no sign of increases in impaired driving or underage use since Canada joined Uruguay as the only nations to legalize and regulate the sale of cannabis to adults _ those over 19 in most Canadian provinces. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
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In this Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019 photo, marijuana retail shop Village Bloomery owners Andrea Dobbs, left, and her husband Jeremy Jacob pose for a photo in their store in Vancouver, B.C. 'One customer told me, 'I love you and I want to support you, but I can't buy all my cannabis here. It's too expensive,'' said Jacob. 'The black-market producers are being well rewarded by legalization.' (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
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In this Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019 photo, marijuana products are stacked on shelves behind locked cabinets at the Village Bloomery, a marijuana retail shop, in Vancouver, B.C. Delegations from other countries, including Mexico, have visited Canada as they explore the possibility of rewriting their own marijuana laws. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
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In this Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019 photo, bloom tenders behind the front counter at the Village Bloomery, a marijuana retail shop, assist a customer in Vancouver, B.C. Sales in the first year of legalization are expected to total $1 billion, a sizable amount but still dwarfed by an illegal market still estimated at $5 billion to $7 billion. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
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In this Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019 photo, a customer looks over a marijuana product at the Village Bloomery, a marijuana retail shop, in Vancouver, B.C. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
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In this Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019 photo, bloom tenders Rian Bevan, left, and Wallis Hartley assist customers at the Village Bloomery, a marijuana retail shop, in Vancouver, B.C. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
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In this Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019 photo, a book about growing pot is displayed for sale at the Village Bloomery, a marijuana retail shop, in Vancouver, B.C. Many people in British Columbia still grow their own marijuana or have friends who do. In Vancouver alone, about 100 dispensaries operated in Vancouver before legalization arrived. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
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In this Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019 photo, cars drive past the Canna Clinic, an unlicensed marijuana shop, in Vancouver, B.C. The nation has seen no sign of increases in impaired driving or underage use since Canada joined Uruguay as the only nations to legalize and regulate the sale of cannabis to adults _ those over 19 in most Canadian provinces. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
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In this Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019 photo, a Canadian cannabis excise stamp covers a container of a marijuana product at Evergreen Cannabis, a marijuana retail shop, in Vancouver, B.C. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
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In this Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019 photo, clerks assist a customer at the Medicinal Cannabis Dispensary, an unlicensed marijuana shop, in Vancouver, B.C. In Vancouver, which has 2.2 million residents and is Canada's third-largest city, there was tacit approval of marijuana even before legalization. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
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In this Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019 photo, a clerk packs pre-rolled marijuana joints for a customer at the Medicinal Cannabis Dispensary, an unlicensed marijuana shop, in Vancouver, B.C. Around the province, authorities have visited 165 illegal dispensaries in the past year and warned them to get licensed or shut down. But despite a few raids, the government has been reluctant to close them all before more licensed shops open. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
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In this Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019 photo, customers stand at a counter where prices of marijuana products are posted at the Medicinal Cannabis Dispensary, an unlicensed marijuana shop, in Vancouver, B.C. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
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In this Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019 photo, a pedestrian walks past the Medicinal Cannabis Dispensary, an unlicensed marijuana shop, in Vancouver, B.C. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
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In this Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2019 photo, a small board spells out a message for customers at the Village Bloomery, a marijuana retail shop, in Vancouver, B.C. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
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