{"id":38548,"date":"2016-03-16T17:45:22","date_gmt":"2016-03-16T22:45:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=38548"},"modified":"2016-03-16T17:45:22","modified_gmt":"2016-03-16T22:45:22","slug":"legal-cannabis-competes-with-black-market","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/legal-cannabis-competes-with-black-market\/","title":{"rendered":"Legal cannabis competes with black market"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Steven Porter<\/strong><\/p>\n

Buying marijuana legally isn\u2019t as easy in Illinois as it is in certain other states, but the regulatory hoops aren\u2019t stopping consumers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Richard Park is a retail consultant for Dispensary 33<\/span><\/a> in Chicago\u2019s Uptown neighborhood, the city\u2019s first shop to sell marijuana under the Illinois Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program which took effect last fall<\/span><\/a>. He said patients prefer to buy legal weed because it offers peace of mind.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou know what you\u2019re getting from a dispensary,\u201d Park said. \u201cYou know the lab results. You know the potency.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

You also get higher quality for the same price, he said.<\/span><\/p>\n

An eighth of an ounce costs about $60 at Dispensary 33, which is roughly equivalent to street prices for high-grade marijuana on the black market, Park said, noting that street-price estimates available online are wildly inaccurate.<\/span><\/p>\n

In order to legally purchase cannabis in Illinois, patients must be diagnosed with any of 39 pre-approved \u201cdebilitating medical conditions\u201d identified by the legislature \u2014 they include cancer, glaucoma, and HIV\/AIDS \u2014 then obtain special written permission from a doctor, according to the Illinois Department of Public Health<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

But if a goal in legalizing pot is to undermine illegal supply chains, then Illinois needs to continue broadening access to the legal stuff, Park argued.<\/span><\/p>\n

Across town at a second dispensary, Modern Cannabis, in Logan Square, the front door remains locked during business hours. A sign next to the door bell at the store\u2019s nondescript entrance on Milwaukee Avenue tells visitors they won\u2019t be allowed inside unless they\u2019re registered with the state as patients or caregivers.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Cannabis
Modern Cannabis in Chicago\u2019s Logan Square neighborhood has a sign next to the door bell at its Milwaukee Avenue entrance warning visitors that they won\u2019t be allowed inside unless they\u2019re registered with the state as patients or caregivers. (Steven Porter\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This limited access policy could serve as an apt metaphor for the state\u2019s laws in comparison to others with liberalized weed restrictions.<\/span><\/p>\n

In Colorado, by contrast, where it\u2019s legal to buy and\u00a0use marijuana recreationally, consumers need only be at least 21 years old with a photo ID to purchase weed. <\/span><\/p>\n

Above the doorway to Lodo Wellness Center, the first dispensary in Denver to offer legal weed for recreational purposes, a light-up \u201cOpen\u201d sign welcomes visitors inside. Members of the general public are free to inspect a portion of the store\u2019s grow operation through a window and survey a menu of cannabis products for sale.<\/span><\/p>\n

An LCD screen inside the well-lit retail space advertises $60 as the regular price for eighth-ounce portions.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"Cannabis
Lodo Wellness Center in Denver sells a variety of cannabis products, including edibles, for medicinal and recreational purposes. (Steven Porter\/MEDILL)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This budding market for legal cannabis, which includes edible and drinkable products, has successfully begun chipping away at the illicit market, according to some experts.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIf you go to Colorado, you can look at how the cartels are being out-competed. They\u2019re being pretty solidly beaten, actually, by the legal business,\u201d Tom Wainwright, author of Narconomics: How to Run a Drug Cartel,<\/span><\/a> said during a recent speech hosted by the Chicago Council on Global Affairs.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although weed pedaled by cartels is cheaper in some cases, it\u2019s also weaker. Marijuana on the street typically has an active-chemical\u00a0concentration of about 6 percent, while dispensaries offer concentrations of about 18 percent, Wainwright said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Historically, the U.S. government and its allies have had a hard time halting marijuana and other drugs being smuggled from Central and South America, but there\u2019s a more effective way, Wainwright argued.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe place where we\u2019ve really gone wrong is in focusing on the supply side of this business, rather than the demand side,\u201d he said. \u201cLike any business, it has those two halves, and if you look at what governments have done in the past decades, there\u2019s been a very heavy emphasis on interrupting supply.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Park, who helped open a dispensary in Colorado prior to his work with Dispensary 33, said good service and well-regulated products are making the slow shift toward legal weed a permanent one.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve never lost a customer back to the street,\u201d Park said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Photo at top: Cannabis plants growing inside Lodo Wellness Center, the first dispensary in Denver to offer legal weed for recreational purposes, are available for inspection by shoppers. (Steven Porter\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Steven Porter Buying marijuana legally isn\u2019t as easy in Illinois as it is in certain other states, but the regulatory hoops aren\u2019t stopping consumers. Richard Park is a retail consultant for Dispensary 33 in Chicago\u2019s Uptown neighborhood, the city\u2019s first shop to sell marijuana under the Illinois Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":183,"featured_media":38549,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,585],"tags":[72,2433],"class_list":["post-38548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-winter-2016","tag-consumer","tag-marijuana"],"yoast_head":"\nLegal cannabis competes with black market - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/legal-cannabis-competes-with-black-market\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Legal cannabis competes with black market - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Steven Porter Buying marijuana legally isn\u2019t as easy in Illinois as it is in certain other states, but the regulatory hoops aren\u2019t stopping consumers. 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