California pot growers say life is hard without double-dealing

The passage of Proposition 64 in 2016 was seen as a watershed moment in the push to legitimise and tax California’s multibillion-dollar marijuana industry. California’s illegal market is estimated at $US8 billion ($11 billion), said Tom Adams, chief executive officer of research firm Global Go Analytics. “The California cannabis system is a nation-wide mockery, a public policy lesson in what not to do,” the business leaders wrote. “The illicit market has all three of them.” An irony in the legal market is that wholesale prices have plummeted, shaking the supply chain. The legal market, with limited outlets to sell it, is flooded with pot from corporate-scale growers.