73 Replies to “Unexpectedly”

  1. Surprise !!! Did ANYONE think a GOVERNMENT would replace a Black Market with an over-regulated cash cow to enrich said government? Perhaps economics should be a pre-requisite course for aspiring politicians, because apparently, drama just does NOT prepare a MORON to be Prime Minister.

      1. Apparently (I haven’t seen anything in print either way) she was a good barista…

          1. She believed they were HER tips … cause she is “hot”, and HER customers wanted to reward HER sexy presentation. She behaves like a Hooters waitress … even as she would mock Hooters. These kind of people are incapable of thinking clearly.

    2. This government’s handling of marijuana legalization reminds me of the cold war era communists’ ability to orchestrate the manufacture, distribution, and sale of blue jeans in the USSR.
      Except that over there the government price was lower than the black market’s… the only issue being that they had none available.

  2. Now they want “safe consumption” sites for canibis in Victoria. Safe for who exactly? I mean I thought the whole idea of banning smoking indoors was to protect staff (and other non-smokers). And of course the other day I was flipping through the radio and Evan Solomon was saying “We don’t really know a lot about the negative effects of canabis consumption yet”. Yeah no kidding.

    2. Well, yes , we do know the negative things effects, 40+ years worth, as BC has been the hub of pot since the 70s. And now there are the edibles to probably be more concerned about, since one can ingest a couple cookies or gummies, whatever, and be totally messed up. Multiple cases of this in Colorado, admissions to emergency for ODing on them.
      Yes, there is promise in the CBD extractions for pain relief or as an anti inflammatory, but no one understands how or why that might work. It can also reduce seizures in epileptics giving them quality of life.

      1. Denninger explained how that works.

        The difference is in the physiological paths you take to get high. Air goes in through the lungs, is absorbed at once and goes to work; so when you smoke-up the THC goes straight to the blood and you feel it at once. But the digestive system works much more slowly; you eat something, even with or without various foods depending on what else you’re doing at the time, and it can take half an hour or more before it’s absorbed and ends-up in the bloodstream.

        So you buy that $10 wacky-tobaccy chocolate bar. You chow-down on one end of it, and nothing happens – you wait-around ten-or-so minutes, still nothing… bummer… it’s melting in your hands, so you wolf the whole thing down just to be rid of it. Well, you’ve just ingested several joints’ worth, and when it does reach your bloodstream, you go straight-through to “really, REALLY hammered” – and there’s nothing you can do about it, and it’s ‘way too late to feel woozy and quit. Even puking won’t help, because it’s no longer in your stomach.

        He points out that this can be really dangerous even if you do make-it to hospital; and if you’re alone in the bad part of town, you’re risking not being seen again. He strongly recommends that bright red warnings to this effect, be put on marijuana edibles – but I bet they won’t be.

      2. The DOPERS have claimed for decades that the FDA (and others) REFUSED to do proper scientific testing … because POT was a schedule 1 drug per the DEA …forbidden from proper medical testing. Yet, the DOPE industry is now immediately making all manner of “health” and “medical” claims without any proper scientific, medical, studies to back their claims.

        So give me the PROPER double-blind scientific studies (not a long parade of personal anecdotes) … and I would consider treating DOPE as … “medicine”. Until I see those proper FDA studies … the DOPE industry should just shut the hell up.

        1. What’s a few more schizophrenics on the public dole. Hell … they’ll be getting FREE marijuana from the government (taxpayers) to “medicate” the conditions created by their marijuana use. Brilliant! The “compassionate” left are too incompetent to see their own idiocy.

          Snoop Dog is now a cartoon character on children’s programming (emphasis on the word “programming”). Yet we have taxed and sued the cigarette industry up the wazoo … because of their “Joe Camel” cartoon character. Who the hell is in charge of this asylum?

    3. The Canadian Medical Association had an opportunity to state the dangers of marijuana under the Harper government. Health Canada had researched this and developed info. CMA refused to take a stand. Now it is too late and there will be negative consequences for some. A few doctors are now expressing concerns, but not many paying attention. I have lost respect for the CMA.

      1. The corruption of the elites. And the elites wonder why no one trusts them to run their lives anymore. Yet they still demand authority and deference.

        The problem with the elites is they never grew up.

  3. For the benefit of old fogies who never got past booze, can someone provide a rough comparison? What does a ‘gram’ of grass compare to? One beer? Ten?
    Thanx

  4. Legalizing weed, and then being Canada and Canadians…over-regulating it in the most socialist way possible, was a mark of brilliance for the true laissez-faire free-market economic model possible. Long live over-regulation and socialist policies fueling exponential growth in the truly free Black Market!

  5. Lets face it, only the Government could screw up selling dope. Like every Liberal scheme it is always about the tax and bleeding more money from the plebs. Justin’s mom must be so proud.

    1. No problem: they will just mandate purchase, by “ prescribing “ it through doctor’s offices. At public expense.

      Problem solved!

  6. “Like every Liberal scheme it is always about the tax and bleeding more money from the plebs.”

    And the vote….don’t forget the vote.

  7. I don’t have a horse in this race… and only want to point out previous commentary from our friend Milton:

    “If you put the federal gov’t in charge of the Sahara Desert, in five years there’d be a shortage of sand”

    That is all.

  8. If everyone grows their four “legal” plants, which is not very hard, dealers both legal and illegal will being selling for even less or just giving it away. Supply and demand. It grows like a weed, after all.

    1. 4 Legal Plants if done right…meh, easily 1/2 – 3/4 lbs (or more depending on how much room you have, of hi Grade Indica.

      Why anyone would go to a legal pot store (particularly a Govt Run one), is beyond me..?? Like going to your local law enforcement to see about buying an AR-15.

  9. Our duty as good citizens is to avoid paying any unnecessary taxation to governements and to avoid paying interest to money lenders. If you can do that successfully, you will become wealthy.

    Buy pot from the private dealer.
    Do NOT use credit for anything but a mortgage.
    And stop eating out so much … even the daily cappuccino will hurt over time. Besides, Starbucks sucks.

    1. “Our duty as good citizens is to avoid paying any unnecessary taxation to governements and to avoid paying interest to money lenders. If you can do that successfully, you will become wealthy.”

      I love what you said! May I add that whenever possible, ALWAYS keep money in the family. So if possible, pool your family wealth to reduce or eliminate the need for a mortgage for your son or daughter and have them pay the family back at minimal to zero interest. You need good kids to do this but if you raised them conservatively, you wont have a problem. Even better, buy rental properties as soon as you can and have them paid off and ready for move in by the time the kids are grown. Chances are, they will invest in a rental property too.

    2. You are so right Duke! Our mother always said “Render unto Caesar what belongs to Caesar (Jesus originally said this) but not a penny more!” Our father also worked as an electrical engineer with Dept of Transportation in the Federal Government. He had come from the private sector and had disdain for the government. He told a story called “Pink Ribbons on Cows’ Tails”. How this would expand into an entire department within a department – but would it be Agriculture (the Cows) or Public Works (beautifying the countryside). There would be a department head, his secretary, inspectors, travel expenses, committees to decide on what color of pink, what type of ribbon to be used etc.
      Captain Capitalism has rightly said that whenever government becomes involved, the cost goes up (see health and education).

      1. I believe Milton Friedman said the cost of government doing anything is double the actual cost. ( I don’t know if he added: and takes twice, or more, long. )

        1. Yes, for normal goods and services, which pot clearly is, sounds about right considering the opportunity cost.
          We let government support civil society; it is of us. Progressives demand “civic society,” their personal leviathan.
          We are flawed and in need of virtue tune ups. These amoral, totalitarian and violent twits are standard-bearers?
          No, in fact they’re intellectuals yet idiots. Anyone who has gone to university knows what I mean by that.
          On weed: Economics 101. Since people can (learn to) grow their own, this is a product who’s value is headed to zero.
          IOW free, the real thing, not government fake free stuff, aka nothing. Government gouging is speeding the process.
          At the least the drug dealers aren’t stupid enough to overly fleece customers, who could substitute endorphin hits.
          Actually they’re cleaning up on the spread. They’ve adjusted their businesses and thrive in the non-tax sector.
          Another example of people who don’t know how to run a business telling those who do how to. Beaten by burnouts.
          It will take about $5 a gram weed to take out the illicit market. Yet these hobgoblin signalers lose at $10/gram.
          So public policy failure #378. They don’t care, any more than they care if you pollute, as long as you pay the tax.

  10. So legal dealer have supply constraints and quality issues but bootleggers have ample supply of quality product. Where are the bootleggers getting their supply? Can the legal dealers tap into that supply chain or are government rules interfering? Isn’t most of Canada’s pot grown in Canada anyway, in BC for instance?

      1. Every once in a while, the rcmp would find pot plantations in Saskatchewan farmer’s fields. Planting near scrub and around coulees would make it less obvious to aerial flyovers. I know it’s harder to control quality in open fields but for the average “I just want a mild buzz” consumer, you’d think field grown pot would bring costs down considerably. Economies of scale and all that. In particular, field grown would suffice for edibles and beverage infusions.

        Of course then we’d have a Canadian Marijuana Board thst only applied to western Canada.

    2. LC git outa yer basement once in a while. People like you are hilarious. Hell, I just quoted on a demolition of ” an old legal grow op’. The previous owner sold more under the table than over the table. Down the street , from were I live, there is another grow op, new start up. Hell, this stuff is grown all over the place, and people like you could trip over a grow op and not even know:-)))))

  11. I always get a kick out of reading about the price of marijuana.

    At the price of “legal” marijuana, a 10kg bag of marijuana is over $106,000.

    By comparison, a 10kg bag of whole wheat flour is $12.

    No wonder so many people were pushing for “legal” marijuana. They realized that they would be laughing all the way to the bank.

    Those poor – literally – suckers who buy marijuana. I really feel sorry for them.

    (I don’t use marijuana in any shape or form.)

  12. Ok, when will we finally wake up and stop government from doing anything. they lost money in casinos and they can’t even sell pot in competition with the established dealers. what bunch of incompetent boobs.

    1. Boobs are useful

      These idiotic morons in government thought it was a good idea not to compete on price for they were blinded by how much Taxation it would bring in.

      Taxation was the only reason they made pot legal.

      1. NOPE…VOTES is what was the impetus in my opinion.

        Something that Liberals have been doing for DECADES – Buying votes: Be it Multi Culturism (Trudeau Senior), or Diversity is our Strength (Current POS)….its always about votes. Pot being about the only way to engage those from 19-30 of age and Trudeau saw that as his one of his avenues to Power.

        Unfortunate really…65% 0f Conservatives too often having their heads up their collective (_i_)’s on certain social subjects…marijuana being a biggy. Had Harper or anyone else done so (legalised it), in the past…. the liklihood of PM Dipshit even happening would have been greatly lessened.

        Look no Further than to yourselves who believe the Righteousnous of your Virlulent anti Marijuana stance…among others. Morons

        2. steackman, well said. It is mostly the bible thumpers who are against weed and abortions, which are highly charged emotional issues. And libtards use emotional issues in every election, and every time they want to move a civil concept forward. And religious “cons” fall for it every time. The Turd has been consulting with Axlerod, and that boy was the one who engineered the O’Butthole success. A black president was/is an emotional issue.

      2. Taxation, votes, and a few more government employees. Everyone’s a winner!

  13. Generations of Indian cigarette smugglers made fortunes off the fact that only fools pay taxes if they have any choice.

    Add a dash of fentanyl, delivered by Canada Post no questions asked to the Rez straight from China, to make your bud truly addictive, and watch the beer and big-screen TV money roll into the rez, tax free, no questions asked by the Mounties because muh cultural genocide.

    Of course, don’t spend a cent of the cash on making your water drinkable. That’s paleface’s job.

    Chief Big Screen must be laughing himself sick. He wouldn’t be the only one.

    1. The Big Chiefs are not very smart! They have the right to import/export without taxation, OR regulation… Every REZ could be like Hong Kong……Auto & Farm dealerships, tax free sales to the Smocks…Let the Government Taxation agencies chase non-rez buyers….If employers did not directly deduct Tax from their employee’s Pay checks, the Government would have to individually collect & justify taxation…..

      Just saying that DNA testing would prove we are all Indians… Time to get rid of freeloaders

  14. If organized crime was not pushing/funding for legalization behind the scenes I’d be surprised. Just think of how big their addressable market just got? Just think how much easier it is for them to operate now.

    2. Can’t agree with that. How in the world does legal or decriminalized weed help organized crime? Grow your own if you want and screw organized crime.

  15. “I’m from the government, and I’m here to help”.

    Who wants to sign up for Alberta Old Age Security plan, run correctly by Albertans, for Albertans? In the “free”, “limited” government republic of Alberta…

  16. (Sarcasm on)

    I wouldn’t call it “illegal” dealers, but “irregular” dealers.

    There is no such thing as “illegal” in Canada … Just ask the RCMP (Bellhops) who carry the luggage across the border of “irregular refugees” coming to Canada through the States.

    Thank you tRUDEau, and the LIEberals, for inviting them and putting them up in hotels, and treating them better than low-income Canadians and military.

    (Sarcasm off)

    (Got idea of “irregular dealer” from reading comments on article.)

    1. “I wouldn’t call it “illegal” dealers, but “irregular” dealers,” Good one. I will remember that — and so appropriate in our post-national state.

  17. I seem to remember–but am too lazy to try to find the source–at least one observer saying prior to legalisation that there would be little to no impact on the “grey market” dealers, b/c the government-sanctioned setups would never be able to compete on price. The only benefits seen by these observers were to a) make insiders rich; b) reduce harassment of recreational users; c) collect taxes (which were always going to be far higher in theory than reality; and d) introduce more people to cannabis by removing the “illegal” stigma.

    There is no problem/thing that government involvement can’t make worse.

  18. Is anyone surprised..?? I’m laughing my ass off.

    I was in a Calgry Co-Op Cannabis Store (the one just S. of Heritage Dr. on McLeaod for my fellow Calgarians), about a week ago.

    I’d gone there to see if one could purchase some form of CBD salve to use on my arthritic knees. I was told point Blank that CBD’s are Illegal…still. Hmm, well ok. so while there I had a gander at some of their pricing: I near Fell over…LOL .

    3.5 Grams (1/8Oz), was selling for $53.95. Once ya do the math, it’s $431.60 for an ounce..!! LOLOLOLOLOL…..+ TAX..!! Simply amazing stupidity. Any street dealer is simply loving it and they get to sell at 150-200 with ZERO Overhead.
    Making “margin” big time.

    As for self, I can buy online – shipped here in 4 days and get same or better quality for FAR less than half that price. This will end up costing Taxpayers – as Does ANY Venture into Business that Govt does.

    1. An ounce of good quality pot goes for about 120 on Vancouver Island. What is it where you are?

      Watch how draconian they get on the mom an pop growers once they realize that they (the stupid government) can’t compete with the private sector. Which most of us already knew would happen.

  19. ha ha ha !!!
    my connexion predicted this before legalization even happened, before it was even a sure thing, he KNEW how it would unfold.
    and it played out exactly as he said, even the stuff about getting deals on ‘inventory clearance’ like it was the toronto produce warehouse.
    ha ha ha !!!

    p.s., I made a joke with him once, Q: howcum no seeds in your product?
    A: oh, that’s to thwart any competition. LOL !!!!

    wheeeee !!!!!

  20. When Prohibition ended back in the 20s I bet there was a glut of cheap illegal stuff for a while and the almost non-existent legal stuff was expensive (It’s how Sam Bronfman made huge leaps in market share – he held back product during prohibition so he had quality stuff when it went away).

    The abundance of legal production and sales outlets guarantees there will be a glut in legal product (and more options – Hash, oil, etc.) in the next few years. And – if the feds let it happen – a crash in the price which hopefully will wipe out the illegal supply as happened with the repeal of the 21st amendment.

    1. Government likely thought it would be similar to what happened when prohibition ended. When it ended governments across Canada moved in to regulate sales with government stores.
      Thirsty people were so happy to be able to get booze again they disregarded the gouging by government.
      Today people tend to be a bit more skeptical about government and the amount of theft they’re required to accept.

      1. I’m pretty sure government liquor stores came much later. And of course there was prohibition in certain regions in Canada. Some parts of Toronto were dry into the 1980s.

        And of course there were no government stores in the US.

        The legal supply caught up pretty quickly because they had quality and safety as well as ultimately cost. Distribution was stronger too as it will be with cannabis.

        1. And therein concludes the message from our “more government is always the answer” contributor, Gord.

          1. Bord Gulk, all wrong , all the time. When some idiot, Gord, thinks that weed and booze are one and the same market and supply items, you know that he knows nothing about it.

    2. The underground pot industry is very sophisticated. They have operated for decades below the radar and supplied the free market. The price ebbs and flows according to supply/demand. The unorganized suppliers constantly upgraded the product without government regulation or interference (except for the cops).

      I don’t think these people are going away any time soon. A glut of government produced pot will only hurt the government stores. How much of a price war can they sustain? There are shareholders to answer to.

      I’m not as optimistic about the future as you are Gord. Pot is not the booze of the last century. My Dad had a still and I grew up with the stuff and the stories of prairie Canada back in the day. Bootleggers, speakeasys blind pigs I heard it all. The quality of the stuff was typically horrid (and dangerous) and the repeal of the law was a good thing if for no other reason than for health reasons. Those conditions don’t exist in the pot industry today.

      The other fly in this ointment is the Indian industry. Once they reach critical mass their pot will be the cheapest. They will be unencumbered by the feds and their taxes.

  21. What fun eh?

    The elephant in the room is that legalization was never really about what one is free to do.
    It was about the government seeing a sector of the economy not giving them a cut of the action.
    So what to do?
    I guess they could send revcan after the “tax cheats” couldn’t they.
    Of course then they would have to go after some of the liberal protected species living in those enclaves known as reserves along the border.

    1. Bingo… “legalizing” weed was always just a scheme that allowed for the Liberal Party to “legally” enter the dope business rackets… how and why people thought the Liberal Party entering the dope rackets would put the Hells Angels and Mexican drug cartels out of business is anybody’s guess… no one asked, conveniently… “Legalizing” weed and “normalizing” the drug trade in general are also Globalist goals.

  22. “Illegal cannabis getting even cheaper, as legal gets costlier, StatsCan says…”

    Hahahahahahahahahahahaha! [Wait – let me dry my eyes!] You couldn’t make this up!

  23. Most everything done by government (and unions) IS organized crime. The regulated quagmire that has resulted from “legalization” is almost a textbook economic definition of that variant of statism called fascism. There is no way the “legal” sector can compete with the underground market for something as simple to produce, distribute and sell. Next, most of the shareholders who didn’t get in at the start of the bubble will get burned, green houses will go under as their costs can’t compete with easy-growing regions and the black market, and the Canadian “edge” of being early will shift to the US where things grow faster with fewer regulations.

    Typically, the government have legalized the most unhealthy means of ingestion (smoking) first rather than edibles. They have also gone from Reefer Madness to Pollyanna when it comes to relative health risks.

    1. Governments aren’t organized crime. You can vote them out.

      Unions on the other hand sometimes literally are…

      1. Governments ARE organized crime. The beat you up and throw you in jail if you don’t pay and obey. In Canada, especially, we see there is no real choice with either Liberals or Liberals to vote for.

        Now you have Max, though, and the PPC! 🙂

      2. “Governments aren’t organized crime. You can vote them out.”

        Yes, but you can’t vote for “none of the above” as a viable option which means there is always someone pointing guns at you to ensure your conformity. Government has the monopoly on the “legal” use of force which, to me (and a few million libertarians worldwide), is the metaphysical equivalent of organized crime.

      3. You can’t vote out government, you can only vote out a party. There will still be government.

        1. And the worst thing with our parties is that when it comes to the really important issues of the role of government, what they should and should not be involved in, there is very little difference between the major parties. The three leftist parties in Canada are in agreement that the state should be pretty much involved in everything without limits and the center-leftist Conservatives say with slightly less enthusiasm, “me too”.

  24. Yes hilarious. The government was going to drive the criminals out of business by legalizing it. But the only thing keeping the price high was the law,

    Imagine if you will, the government cannot make a profit out of opil or drugs. ha!

Proudly powered by WordPress & Skyrocket Themes

MENU

Navigation