Legal weed won’t kill the black market; but it will shrink it beyond recognition.

Ben Owens
2 min readJan 30, 2024

Earlier this week, I was commenting on a post about the black market.

Specifically, the idea that “corporate cannabis will never kill the black market.”

In my reply, I compared post-prohibition pot to post-prohibition ‘shine.

Sure, you can still buy “black market” moonshine.

But it’s harder to find than the “moonshine” sold in stores.

And, unless you’re a moonshine connoisseur, you don’t care.

So, no, corporate cannabis will never “kill” the black market.

In every regulated industry, a small % of outliers exist.

They want something specific, and don’t care if it’s “legal” or “allowed.”

Whether its cuban cigars or Appalachia ‘shine, they’ll find it on the “black market.”

But there’s a delicate balance held with the legal market.

As something becomes increasingly easier to access…

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Ben Owens

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