Cannabis Guide: The Black Market Memo

Cannabis 101

Feb 26

Buying from a dispensary will be the best option for fellow New Yorkers; however, remember to budget for the taxes when purchasing from one of these three dispensaries.

Cannabis 101 | Cannabis Guide

Words by Damian Nicholas

ASSOCIATED PRESS

For decades the most common method of buying cannabis was through your local black market vendor. It's safe to say that at least one in ten individuals has purchased cannabis through this method. The Controlled Substances Act of 1970 and the fight against drugs from the Reagan Administration; increased the risk for the sale or purchasing of cannabis, ultimately driving cannabis to the black market. The problem we've witnessed with the black market is the lack of quality control; as a result, we often examine bad-quality cannabis with evaporated or brittle buds. The most common reasons for these conditions are storage, oxidation and humidity.

01. Storage

Maintaining a proper storage method for your cannabis is vital. Mishandling cannabis may lead to a less pleasant smoking experience. The most common storage method we've seen has been turkey bags.

02. Oxidation

Exposure to oxygen is harmful to cannabis. Oxygen causes cannabis to degrade at a rapid pace. However, in a proper storage environment, cannabis can last up to one year after curing.

03. Humidity

Poor humidity causes cannabis to lose its potency, aroma, taste, and flavor.

We've tested a few methods to revive poor-quality cannabis; the first method was introducing a terracotta stone which increased relative humidity levels from 48% to 62%. Our second method was a terpene shield; this method helped preserve the remaining terpenes, with humidity results similar to the terracotta stone. Our first interaction with a quality control problem was in early 2018 when searching around New York City for the best quality cannabis. From 2018 - 2023 we've encountered two types of black market vendors.

Vendor A; is your lower-price dealer, lacks consistency with strains, and provides improper information.
Vendor B; is your higher-price dealer, and offers good quality flowers, long waiting time or traveling maybe required. Does one of these vendors sound familiar to you? Both vendors serve a purpose in the community and have been doing so for a while. But after being frustrated with the lack of quality and overpricing from black market vendors, we decided to give black market vendors a break.

Recently legalization of recreational marijuana and the first round of licensed dispensaries have brought exciting changes to New York City. Strict regulations require cannabis brands to uphold proper quality control in their grow facilities and to provide consumers with product information and labelings such as total cannabinoids, batch number, UID, and package date. Is this a better alternative to the black market vendors? Only time will tell. As of March 2023, there is only three legal cannabis dispensary where you can buy cannabis in new york city, although we've seen a massive amount of unregulated shops sell cannabis without a license.

legal cannabis dispensaries and locations:

Housing Works Cannabis Co. at 750 Broadway, New York, NY 10003
Smacked Village at 144 Bleecker St, New York, NY 10012
Union Square Travel Agency: A Cannabis Store at 62 E 13th St, New York, NY 10003

Buying from a dispensary is a good option for New Yorkers however, remember to budget for the taxes when purchasing from one of these three dispensaries. New York State will be a prime state in the east coast cannabis market for brands. Black market vendors now have a chance to transition into the legal market if they wish to do so. Before you consider transitioning, we advise you to do some extensive research. A good starting point is the official website of the Office of Cannabis Management (OCM). The OCM website provides information on the different types of licenses you can apply for in New York State.

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