Why New York legalizing recreational cannabis won’t kill the illicit market

The city that never sleeps has always had a strong illicit cannabis market and adult-use legalization is unlikely to stub it out anytime soon
Forbes (US)
Friday, March 19, 2021

As New York prepares to legalize adult-use cannabis, whether the illicit market will thrive or die seems like an important question. The best place to look to see how legalization affected the illicit market is the Emerald Triangle in Northern California, which is the epicenter of cannabis cultivation in America. When California legalized adult-use one of the main questions was around whether all the illegal production would go above board with recreational use. The answer was no. “I’m speculating, but the same dynamic could happen in New York,” Erick Eschker, an economics professor at Humboldt State University, says.