Can Legal Weed Win?
The Blunt Realities of Cannabis Economics
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5.0 • 1 Rating
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- $16.99
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- $16.99
Publisher Description
Two economists take readers on a tour of the economics of legal and illegal weed, showing where cannabis regulation has gone wrong and how it could do better.
Cannabis "legalization" hasn't lived up to the hype. Across North America, investors are reeling, tax collections are below projections, and people are pointing fingers. On the business side, companies have shut down, farms have failed, workers have lost their jobs, and consumers face high prices. Why has legal weed failed to deliver on many of its promises? Can Legal Weed Win? takes on the euphoric claims with straight dope and a full dose of economic reality.
This book delivers the unadulterated facts about the new legal segment of one of the world's oldest industries. In witty, accessible prose, economists Robin Goldstein and Daniel Sumner take readers on a whirlwind tour of the economic past, present, and future of legal and illegal weed. Drawing upon reams of data and their own experience working with California cannabis regulators since 2016, Goldstein and Sumner explain why many cannabis businesses and some aspects of legalization fail to measure up, while others occasionally get it right. Their stories stretch from before America's first medical weed dispensaries opened in 1996 through the short-term boom in legal consumption that happened during COVID-19 lockdowns. Can Legal Weed Win? is packed with unexpected insights about how cannabis markets can thrive, how regulators get the laws right or wrong, and what might happen to legal and illegal markets going forward.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this lucid and pragmatic analysis, U.C. Davis economists Goldstein (The Wine Trials) and Summer extinguish overheated predictions about the potential size and profits of the legal marijuana market. Claiming that many investors "have lost most of the money they ever invested in weed," the authors examine the forces working against legal marijuana, including the persistence of the illegal retail market, where prices are as much as 50% lower; burdensome regulations and compliance standards, including child-proof packaging, safety and potency tests, and safe waste disposal protocols; and long waiting periods for expensive state and local licenses. Throughout, Goldstein and Summer debunk urban legends and offer counterintuitive advice, claiming, for instance, that the psychoactive differences between Cannabis sativa and Cannabis indica are hard to distinguish (despite budtenders' claims to the contrary), and that national legalization (which they predict will happen within 30 years) will put many existing retailers in high-priced and strictly regulated states like Massachusetts and California out of business by increasing interstate competition and lowering retail markups. The authors' practical advice for growers, retailers, and investors includes advocating for local standards to be applied to out-of-state weed and cultivating the reputation of locally grown marijuana. Jargon-free and data-rich, this is a clear-eyed analysis of a hazy market.
