Canada legalized recreational weed 8 days ago, and already the country is having issues keeping up with the sudden increase in demand. By the second day both brick and mortar dispensaries and online retailers were reporting that they were selling out of product. Why is Canada running out of weed? Is the Canadian legal market in trouble? No matter how you look at it, the Canadian weed experiment is not off to a good start.

The first day the legal marijuana market opened was even more hectic than people expected it would be, with lines for dispensaries spanning several blocks at times. At one point the police were even called in to deal with frustrated customers who had been waiting in line for hours, surely an ironic feeling for them.

Lead Canadian cannabis growers Aurora Cannabis had warned in the months preceding legalization that a weed shortage was imminent, and they were absolutely right. Some parts of Ontario are reporting that shortages could last for months!

Why is Canada Running out of Weed?

So far demand for recreational cannabis has been far higher than anyone had anticipated, with that much weed in demand, it would be next to impossible for growers to keep up with skyrocketing demand. Canada is not alone. So far, this has been an issue with in newly legal states such as California and Nevada both faced similar issues.

Certainly things like police raids on dispensaries do not help. Dispensaries in Halifax were raided almost 2 weeks ago, only mere days before legalization day on the 17th. 10 people in all were charged with trafficking.

Shortages and Strikes

There is also the fact of the Canadian Union of Postal Workers (CUPW) went on strike this week, affecting the areas of Edmonton, Halifax, and Vancouver. The rotating strikes will affect different areas of the country. A lot of Canada’s legal market is based in online sales, in addition to brick and mortar. This is sure to make the weed shortage even more dire. This is not to say that this is the striking workers’ fault. This is why it’s important to treat workers as the valuable assets that they are begin with.

Between shortages, raids, and strikes, one can only hope that the Canadian legalization experiment gets better from here, and it might. First day jitters are perfectly natural when dealing with legal weed. This is completely unknown territory; it would be impractical to expect things to go right from the start. I still remain somewhat optimistic.

Featured Image Source: Vice

Will the Canadian weed experiment be a disaster, or will things get better as time goes on? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!