Pot users still turning to black market, stats show

Nearly six months after legalization, one in every three Canadian cannabis users is still buying their weed on the street, according to new statistics.

According to Statistics Canada's National Cannabis Survey, which covers the first quarter of 2019,38 per cent of Canadian pot consumers continue turning tothe black market.

It just comes down to dollars and cents.- Jonathan Hull, cannabis user

That's despite Ontario's online cannabis retailer going live on Oct. 17, and Ottawa's first bricks-and-mortar pot shops openingtheir doors April 1.

Most customers who are eschewing those legal sources say they're too expensive.

"It just comes down to dollars and cents," Jonathan Hull told CBC. "An ounce on the streets is going for about anywhere from a $160 to $180, and in [licensed shops]you're going to be paying $260 to $280."

Hull saidthe stores have their allure, but for him, they're still not worth it.

"The convenience of those stores is a nice thing, to be able to just pop into a store here when you need something is really good. ButI still go onto the black market quite frequently, just dueto the cost."

Nearly $3 cheaper on street

Since the drug was legalized last fall, Canadians purchasing cannabis from legal sources have paid an average of $9.99 per gram, while those getting it from illegal sources have paid an average of $6.37 per gram, according to Statistics Canada.

People will go where they get a better deal.- Rosalie Wyonch, C.D. HoweInstitute

According toEugene Oscapella, an Ottawa-based lawyer and professor of criminology and drug policy at the University of Ottawa, a shortage since legalization of both product and the shops selling it have helped turn customers backto more familiar sources.

"People are naturally going to continue to go to the illegal market, and many peoplehave longstanding relations with the people who've been selling them cannabis in the past," Oscapella said.

Rosalie Wyonch,a policy analyst at the C.D. Howe Institute in Toronto, predicts the black market is here to stay until the price of legal pot drops.

"Until the price of legal marijuana is comparable to that in a black market, you're always going to see some consumption in the black market simply because people will go where they get a better deal,"Wyonchsaid.