Black-market cannabis sellers unfazed by legal competition

Ken says he’s been selling marijuana illegally for 35 years in Calgary, and hasn’t yet felt the need to scope out the legal competition.

That’s partly because he doesn’t feel threatened by the advent of legalized cannabis.

“But I do plan on trying it, checking it out when the supply is there,” said Ken, not his real name, taking a dig at the shortages plaguing legal retailers since legalization took effect Oct. 17. For now, the Calgarian said he’s content to continue plying his illicit sales, a side pursuit to a legitimate career.

He said he purchases four or five pounds at a time of bud grown in various parts of B.C., selling it in ounces or quarter-ounces to a circle of people he knows.

There hasn’t been much straying among his customers, he said.

“I don’t see any difference ... I really can’t see any reason to change,” he said. “There might be a couple who have decided to go the legal route, but others will try some legal stuff just to have the container to put the illegal stuff in.” Other illicit sellers he knows are taking the same view, he said, for now.

A main reason cited by governments for the end to pot prohibition is eliminating the black market.

But the considerably lower prices Ken said he charges for cannabis — $50 for a quarter ounce versus nearly the same amount for a legal eighth of an ounce — is shoring up customer loyalty on his side.

“Why spend $300 for an ounce when you can get it for $200? I really don’t see that happening,” he said. “But I’m not undercutting the government, it’s what I’ve always done.”

Ken believes many people would still rather pick up their pot anonymously, something he can provide.

“Why would we go into a store with a security camera and stick our necks out when we can buy from a friend of a friend?” he said.

Governments and the legal cannabis industry insist a major selling point for their product is a guarantee of safety and quality.

In decades of using and selling marijuana, Ken said he only came across doctored pot once — 40 years ago when a batch was treated with perfume to cover up an odour.

He wouldn’t speak to the quality of pot sold in stores but said his experience with earlier federal government licensed medicinal pot didn’t leave him discouraged.

“Everybody agreed my B.C. bud was better,” said Ken.

And while he expects the legal supply chain to firm up and obliterate shortages next year, he predicted he’ll still be supplying customers.

A man who conducts black market online sales echoed those sentiments, saying he sees no reason to change how he operates, though admitted legalization has cut into his business. Even so, the man, who also didn’t want his name used, said he philosophically supports the end of pot prohibition.

“(It’s) beautiful — I am passionate about cannabis, about time it’s legal,” he said in an email.

Since legalization, he added, there’s been no legal pressure to shut down his operation.