Yo, what’s good fam? This is Dan coming at you with some real talk about the California cannabis game. Word on the streets is that it might be in some serious trouble. Check it, SFGate just reported that the state has seen an 8% dip in legal marijuana purchases by consumers since last year. This is the first time since 2018 that sales have gone down, and we’re talking about a $473 million drop from 2021.
What’s the deal, you ask? Well, there’s a few things going on here. For one, the state’s been trying to handle its illicit cannabis market for years now, but it’s still going strong. It turns out that illegal weed is way cheaper than legal stuff since it’s not taxed or regulated. Plus, there’s already too much legal and illegal ganja floating around the state as it is.
But that’s not all. According to cannabis consultant Hirsh Jain, there are other factors at play too. For starters, it’s been tough for new legal stores to open up shop. And when they do, they’re facing supply chain hurdles left and right that are making it hard to keep up with demand. To top it all off, licensed cannabis farmers are struggling with super low wholesale prices that are leaving them in major debt.
So what does this all mean? It means that the “legal market is on the brink of collapse,” according to Jain. And honestly, I don’t blame him for saying that. When you consider that California marijuana companies sold $2 billion worth of cannabis in their first year of sales five years ago and that number jumped to $5.7 billion by 2021, this recent dip in sales is looking pretty scary.
But let’s not freak out just yet. There are still plenty of positive things happening in the world of California cannabis. For instance, medical marijuana patient counts have gone up by 71% in another state over the past two years! Plus, there’s another state that could start adult-use cannabis sales as soon as July under a new bill.
So yeah, things might be looking a little rough for California right now. But we’ve got this, fam. We’ll get through this together and come out stronger on the other side. Peace out!