Six months after California made recreational marijuana use legal, the so-called "Weed Apocalypse" arrives this weekend.
Tight state regulations take effect on July 1, sending dispensaries scrambling to unload non-compliant product.
While the deadline is giving pot shop owners headaches, it is creating an opportunity for consumers.
They are already anticipating deep discounts on their favourite marijuana products on what has been dubbed "Green Saturday" - for the colour of cannabis - and for black market dealers.
Jerred Kiloh, who owns The Higher Path dispensary in Sherman Oaks, is one vendor having to get rid of all his non-compliant stock before Sunday.
"You're seeing anything from between 50 and 70 per cent off which, as a business, I'm losing anywhere between 30 and 40 percent on every sale just so I don't lose 100 per cent because under current laws I can't give product that is non-compliant back to distributors or back to vendors who gave it to us because once we've become in possession of the product, we can't give it back," Kiloh said.
A bud tender displays their Blueberry Muffin strain of cannabis. Source: AAP
Kiloh, who is also the president of the United Cannabis Business Association, estimates that the licensed cannabis industry as a whole in California would have lost up to half a billion dollars come July 1.
The compliance regulations issued by the Bureau of Cannabis Control are a result of the legalisation of recreational marijuana that came in on January 1.
Jamie Warm, CEO of Henry's Original, a Californian grower and distributor, explained the guidelines that vendors and distributors must now comply with include labelling products with a harvest date and "best before" date.
"You need to be phase two compliant which means you're testing for pesticides, you're testing for potency and you're testing for microbiological contaminants, specifically ecoli, salmonella and aspergillus," Warm said.
Henry's Original is one of a few growers and distributors to be ready for July 1. Many others have been hampered because of a dearth of testing facilities in California, which means only a portion of the industry is July 1 ready.
Legal vendors are already concerned that high taxes on products - sometimes up to 40 per cent - are pushing consumers to unlicensed dispensaries. It's estimated that in Los Angeles alone there are 1,300 unlicensed establishments.
The cost of being compliant is also pushing up prices, meaning the black market is thriving.
Brad Slaughter, a writer for California Weed Blog who has been covering the developments of the industry said: "There are a lot of people saying that within the next year or two you're going to see at least 90 per cent of these companies out of business."
Share
