As the province ramps up to be ready for when marijuana becomes legal B.C.’s Public Safety says there will be a gradual decline in the black market.
Mike Farnworth says, other jurisdictions that have legalized have shown the black market does not vanish overnight.
“It has taken Colorado for example four years to get the black market down to where it is only 30%. I expect there will be common sense in terms of how this is done. Our focus is going to be getting legal stores up and running both in the public sector and the private sector. I expect as more and more private stores and government stores come online you will see a decrease in the number of illegal operations.”
Farnworth says, a marijuana enforcement branch is being put together within his ministry to ensure the laws of the land are abided by.
He says, all unlicensed illegal marijuana operations who are thumbing their nose at municipalities will be shut down.