Cannabis Limits Access Could Bring Back Illicit Market

About one-third of cannabis consumers say that if the expected federal shift to Schedule III were to require prescription-based transactions at pharmacies instead of the well-established dispensary model, they would go back to relying on the illicit market.

Ganjapreneur reported a survey that about one-third (32%) of cannabis consumers say that if a rescheduling action were to restrict the industry by requiring retail sales to be prescription-based via pharmacies, they would risk criminal penalties by reverting to the illicit market, according to a survey reported on by Marijuana Moment. A slight majority (55%) of respondents said that if their only legal option was through pharmacies, they would do so.

While 25% said it would improve access and 47% said that they did not expect any change in ease of access. Additionally, 77% of respondents said they would prefer using “traditional botanical products” like cannabis flower over an FDA-approved product, and a strong, 70% majority of respondents said that they believed dispensaries “would pass to consumers any tax savings brought about by new regulations”

“According to government estimates, more than 35 million Americans use cannabis on a monthly basis. Pushing more than 10 million people into the unregulated market for cannabis strikes me as a very bad outcome because black market cannabis is not safe. I don’t think the severity of this situation is entirely clear to policymakers.”

The survey polled 795 respondents via the company’s opt-in email list about multiple topics including their current ability to access consumer cannabis products and potential effects of the Biden Administration’s proposed Schedule III rescheduling action.

Data and Picture origin at ganjapreneur and liftedasia