It has been a long disappointing wait for cannabis to become fully legal in Canada. As regulations continued to rollout, hope for medicinal patients has dissipated into a DIY abyss. Now, the wait for Legalization 2.0 has come to an end – almost.
Legalization 2.0 – Sinking into the sea
Limits on branding, advertising, and packaging are all still outrageous characteristics of the iceberg known as legalization 2.0, floating along, in a sea of demand. It’s shape changes as it is caught between regulators clashing against a fair market. Every shift in the ice is really just it melting into the sea, crashing stock markets with the depletion of its mass. The base has been changing for some time in the form in the form of shifting guidelines.
There still exists the former iceberg we were forced to sail past. Legalization 1.0 has shrunk into an abysmal chunk, nothing for the licensed producer’s to cling onto at this point. Even with regulators trying as hard as they can to steer a single ship filled with patients and the national market alike their way. A plethora of our financial efforts, our hard spent time, will sadly continue to be offloaded for producer’s here, while they fail those investments. Their only hope at this point is to now steer that ship towards the next ‘berg and hope we crash hard into Legalization 2.0, an ill-guided fate.
Poor judgment on the next stage – Blaming regulators
Newfoundland released edibles a day early on December 16, 2019, but have decided to delay vaping products, indefinitely. They did so because of fears over this year’s news-making vape crisis, despite the fact that is known to be from fillers used in the illicit market. You would think those harmful things would be banned, making Newfoundland’s decision unjust and short-tempered.
Unfortunately, Health Canada has given shocking permissions to processors to bloat extracts, and ultimately our lungs, with the same vape pen fillers that are harming people. There is a high possibility we will unknowingly come across cannabinoids synthesized from E. Coli, yeast, or chemicals hiding in extracts and edibles. Fake shatter will be disguised under the guise of regular old wax and resin. Alas, the governing current continues to clash and melt the second iceberg with friction, the same as it did the first. Legalization 2.0 will be liquified into the sea by attritive regulations as well as market destroying prices. Some call it an accident, others call it sabotage.
It will be regulations that are to blame for any future health problems caused by inhaled extracts, not cannabis. Lawsuits will not be paid for by guilty laws, though.
Releasing edibles – Legalization 2.0 barely on schedule
Legalization 2.0 is a giant looming beast hiding beneath the sea. A public sailing available for all willing consumers and any desperate, misguided patients has finally begun to close in on Legalization 2.0 as the Black Market waits in excitement. We are not pleased to announce that edibles are finally beginning to roll out, a year and two months later, just as promised.
Some provinces still have to wait longer. BC will alledgy release edibles online on December 19, 2019. Ontario, Quebec, and Alberta have delayed their edible release until at least January. Edibles have become available in Newfoundland ahead of schedule, but vaping products, as noted, have been put on hold. Edibles are tentatively available in the rest of the country as of Tuesday, December 17, 2019.
Pricing out viability
Edibles are only an affordable option for novice consumers. Medicinal patients or connoisseurs are not so lucky. For ‘safety’ reasons, edibles have been restricted to 10 mg of THC per package. This is roughly the threshold dose for intolerant, first-time users. Yet, cannabis tolerance is quite profound. Someone with tolerance will need much higher quantities of THC, anywhere from 50 – 400 mg per oral dose and sometimes even more.
Solid edibles
Currently,
- A single gummy or piece of chocolate with 10 mgs of THC costs $4.99 – $11.99
- A 100 mg dose will ultimately be ten times that in individual packages.
- A 400 mg dose will add up $199.60 – $479.00 before tax!
And you probably won’t be able to possess much larger than a 400 mg edible dose of chocolates outside of your home! You are only legally allowed to carry 450 grams of candies or chocolates at a time since fifteen grams of edibles is the legal equivalent of one gram of cannabis. If chocolate weighs 10 grams with 10 mg of THC then that puts the legal possession limit at 450 mg of THC on those chocolates.
Beverages
At the time of writing, beverages are not yet available in Newfoundland or Canada, they are rather ‘coming soon.’
- Tweed‘s beverages with 10 mg of THC distillate costs $14.99 in a 130 millilitre beverage.
- The Green Organic Dutchmen’s Dissolvable THC powder costs $3.99 per package before tax
I remember buying 150 mg THC:CBD sodas from medicinal dispensaries for $15.00. With Legalization 2.0 regulations, you can only legally carry 160 mg of THC in the form of Tweed’s beverages. Dissolvable powders give a massive freedom boost there, allowing you to possess 46 000 mg of THC in a powdered form allegedly two times more potent, but they are still restricted to 10 mg of THC per package! That is still over $40 dollars for a 100 mg dose. A single beer affects me more than eating that much cannabis does.
Imagine if the cheapest beer you could find cost $40?
Sealing a fate on Legalization 2.0
These prices are not viable for the cannabis market. If things do not change then the iceberg that is Legalization 2.0 will sink as well. The last chance for Canada’s licensed producers will be lost until they adjust the price of edibles and the quality of dried flowers. Quality and price are the solid landmasses the black market sustains itself from. However, these are only the first prices of the first province to release edibles, so things could change. When concentrates and topicals start to roll out we will follow up on those releases as well.