[Dion]

Originally Posted by Drak

Not really. Growing in large quantities would require a business license to operate - like any other business. If you violate that you get shut down. If you're growing small amounts the black market doesn't have much use for you. Regardless, if legalized I suspect people are going to prefer buying from legal dispensaries and with competition the prices will be competitive.

Pot black market still thrives after Colorado legalization

Although recreational use of marijuana has been legal in the state of Colorado for nine months, some people are still choosing to buy it on the black market. Critics say legalization has created two systems: a legal market for those who can afford it and an underground market for people who can't. PBS NewsHour Special Correspondent Rick Karr reports from Denver.

RICK KARR: One of the benefits attached to legalization was that it would eliminate the black market. But that market is still thriving, according to a 39 year old marijuana grower who asked us to call him John Doe and to conceal his identity because he sells on the underground market.

The illegal trade is doing especially well in black and Latino communities, and he says it works the same way it did when pot was illegal.

JOHN DOE: You have that one guy, that guy that shines, that’s the Robin Hood of the neighborhood. This man supplies a little ghetto area. Simple as that. Breaks his own pound into little ounces and helps everybody in his community. So they can afford it with him. That’s how it’s happened.

RICK KARR: Yeah. And that’s how it happened before, too.

JOHN DOE: Yeah. Yeah. Nothing’s changed.

RICK KARR: John Doe says low-income buyers turn to the black market because prices are higher at legal retail stores. There’s conflicting information, but an ounce of pot on the black market can cost as little as 180 dollars. At the store Andy Williams owns, you have to pay around 240 dollars for an ounce.

That’s partly because the price includes a 15 percent excise tax, a 10 percent marijuana tax, the state sales tax, and Denver’s marijuana sales tax.

RICK KARR: But for anyone who was caught and convicted of a drug-related felony before legalization, state law makes it virtually impossible to join the industry now that marijuana is legal. John Doe says that keeps a lot of people working on the black market.

JOHN DOE: There’s a lot of people that have broken the law that are great entrepreneurs, work very hard, have good work ethics, family values, good communication skills. I mean, I definitely believe that they should be given a chance. The rules and regulations should allow a good grower that’s been in trouble to do this. They’re not hurting anybody. They’re not out there you know, stealing and robbing. Most of these people probably got caught up trying to make a living. Trying to make money.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/nine-...nal-marijuana/