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 Originally Posted by OngBonga
So why does the black market exist? Why is my weed consistently good quality?
Sometimes, crap quality weed hits the market. It's rare, because the person who sold it will lose customers as a consequence. That's why most dealers I know will reject crap quality weed.
Despite being an unregulated market, cannabis dealers effectively regulate themselves for their own business interests.
The term "black market" is misleading because it can seem like it is not regulated yet in fact the market is highly regulated. Economics thinks of markets in terms of goods and services (or labor or financial products, etc.). So, regarding marijuana, it would be the marijuana market, which is an intensely regulated market, so much so that most types of transactions are strictly illegal. Within this marijuana market, transactions that bypass the regulations do happen, which is where the idea of "black market" comes from. We should be sure to not think of this meaning that it is unregulated because the secret transactions of marijuana are a product of the intensely regulated marijuana market.
Markets that are so intensely regulated that secret transactions are common tend to have costs that are many multiples greater than they otherwise would be. I looked at some numbers a while back and it appears that if marijuana was as legal and unrestricted as wheat, an ounce of top quality weed could be like ten cents or some crazy low price.
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