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Haley Boulanger
Matt, you're from BC. Better yet an Islander. How do you feel about living in a cannabis capital during the height of the legalization frenzy?
Matt Charlton
It's something that I always wanted to be involved in as a younger adult. And, you know, it's something that I get to live out finally now that it's legal. It's a lot easier to go about it and let everybody know what you do. And it's fun. [Cannabis is] out there in the open now.
Boulanger
Do you miss the grey market dispensary days, pre-legalization? They were wild times.
Charlton
Yeah, so the grey market days I really liked because it was a lot easier to stock products with higher potency at better quality prices. You know, yes, there was a lot of competition out there, and it seemed to be a lot better of a competition with a lot of product diversity out there.
Now, with legalization, there's still lots of good products out there, but we're still waiting for a lot to come on the market, the prices to go down and the potency to go up. But I don't view the legal market as a level playing field. We're in competition with our supplier. They have stores, and they also supply us with the product that we sell, and limit what we're able to mark up and how we're able to conduct business. I don't see that it's [a] level [playing field] anymore. I'd really like to see things change. I think it's a conflict of interest to be able to have the province not only supply the product wholesale to us - they're also in competition directly with retail stores. And it's just not really fair. They pay less than we do, and they dictate the markups. So what seems to be all right for them, is not enough for us.
Charlton shares a spot-on summary about the present day situation at dispensaries, specifically in the province of BC, Canada. He compares legal dispensaries today to grey market days, when the growers, shop owners and even employees of the dispensaries were reaping the rewards fairly. Then in 2018, came legalization, and the system changed. New rules, or regulations, were put in place to monitor and protect the sale and production of cannabis on a federal level. Provincial and municipal governments have been awarded authority within their own jurisdictions.
Charlton
Now, we're poised in a predicament where the government dictates what's going to happen and it's taxed really heavily. Yes, we're just getting into the market and legalization and things will grow in the next 10 years. But, I don't think that having the middleman being the province, plus them being a competitor retailer is a smart choice. I think that it chokes out local people trying to make a living.
Regulations from a federal document called the Cannabis Act, have dawned on the market to much scrutiny. The most serious controversies surrounding the newly written rules that affect dispensaries and their consumers negatively seem to be: maximum purchase quantities (30 grams); extremely low dose THC limits on edibles; price increase per gram on all products; decreased potencies; wasteful and expensive packaging regimes were added, thus consumers cannot see or smell the product. A living nightmare for many.
Charlton
Yeah. Well, it is unfortunate because what they're doing is using our tax dollars, which is fine in a way, to open their business, only they're directly competing with people who are paying the tax dollars. I feel like I'm competing against myself and my province to make a living. Look at Alberta, they don't have Alberta Cannabis stores, the province supplies the product, and the private people recreationally sell it out of those stores. It's a win-win situation, and the Alberta government isn't competing in two ways. It's not a level playing field [in BC].
The majority of regulatory decision makers for the cannabis industry are likely a room of white collared biz execs who didn’t even inhale. At least this is how it looks from the perspective of entrepreneurs like Charlton that have made the leap from the grey market into the legal one. The BC government appears to be attempting to establish a monopoly on the weed game. They are regulating and distributing the product, as well as selling it. The general Canadian populous were not naïve to the fact that the federal government wanted it’s piece of the pot pie, however it seems that select provinces and territories are leveraging their position.
New Brunswick, Northwest Territories, Nova Scotia, Nunavut, Prince Edward Island and Quebec are the 6 provinces and territories where government cannabis stores hold an exclusive monopoly. Alberta, BC, Newfoundland & Labrador, Ontario and the Yukon allow both private and government stores to operate, however private online cannabis sales are prohibited in each of those provinces. Finally, the provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba are keeping things interesting by allowing only private stores, in-person and online, therefore nothing government run. It seems unnecessarily inconsistent. Depending on the region you call home in Canada, one could say that we are paying out of pocket for the novelty of cannabis being legal.
Charlton
A lot of these corporate businesses thought they're just going to run in and take over the market, and they have to a point, but they're all shrinking in size, they're selling off, and they don't know what they're doing. For instance, there's quality [found] in craft grows. Then they say, “Perfect, we found the quality that we want, we're bumping [production] up,” into, you know, a million square foot facility, and then they've just commercialized the strains that they have, and then the quality goes down.
On the west coast of Canada here, we have connoisseur smokers, we want to smoke, the good stuff. We don't want to smoke, the commercial grade, you know, flack that's out there. I believe some [licensed producers] were growing cannabis for less than $1 a gram. But they turn around and retail it for $15 or $18 a gram. You know, the product hasn't changed at all. That's the problem, they see way too much money for the [actual] value of that cannabis.
Yes, many predicted the quick rise and fall in the beginning of the legal cannabis industry. Some of us are still here burning. Statistics today show Canadian cannabis use is steadily increasing, so it would appear as though The Bud Barn is not going anywhere soon.
It's been over three years now since legalization happened in Canada and the supply is not yet meeting the new rampant demand. A number of consumers have stayed with the grey market, and others have chosen to explore it for the first time. This larger than ever call for cannabis has exposed more users to the lack of potency, quality and quantities that the Cannabis Act is failing to provide.
Charlton
A lot of us have transitioned to the legal market. Now, we're still competing with the illegal markets out there, and now the government stores. It doesn't make sense. The government's not doing what they need to be doing on both sides. One one side they need to be protecting the legal market. On the other side they also need to be getting rid of the black market, unfortunately.
I was a big part of it, but it's time to transition, and for the prices to go down and the quality to go up, you know, I can't look at selling eighths (3.5 grams) in my store for $65.
The province of BC’s government cannabis stores offer higher than competitive wages, benefits and appear to need larger numbers of staff. These employment bonuses are enough to convince anyone that they offer a better work environment, and they may. However, Charlton’s point is that these government stores are taking up room for those dedicated dispensary owners who risked a lot to keep their place at the table in the legal economy.
A cannabis story for some many is an uncertain one. Just like going to a massage therapist or counsellor, seeing that same budtender is a reassuring part of entering a dispensary. The Bud Barn maintains their longstanding location at 115 Nicol Street, Nanaimo, BC. Their perseverance to make it through the push to become a legal storefront has paid off, and Matt Charlton sees the possibility of a happy ending.
Charlton
I'm happy for that act, I'm happy that it's legal, I'm happy that we're allowed to carry it on us now. There are great sides to legalization, but there is still a lot of work to do in the next five, potentially 10 years.
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Meet Haley Boulanger
Meet Haley Boulanger
After a decade of contributing to the hospitality industry, accompanied by a BSc, Haley familiarized herself with the now famed cannabis plant through cultivation in the legacy and legal cannabis markets. Haley shares her passion for the equitable expansion of the cannabis industry through her commitments with Hi Bnb and Flush Mag, while continuing to tend to the garden of her dreams.
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