Let’s face the truth. The black market for cannabis is not likely to disappear soon, even though Louisiana legalized medical cannabis. Even in California, home to the largest legal pot market in the world, where all adults are allowed to use it, black markets continue to flourish.
The medical marijuana Louisiana card gives you the ability and options to choose where your medicine is purchased. There are two options: purchase legal marijuana from a Louisiana licensed dispensary, or continue to buy marijuana locally. It is illegal to buy medicine outside of dispensaries and it can lead you to prison. There are however other great reasons that dispensaries make it very attractive.
Let’s dive in.
1. Recreational Marijuana Is Still Illegal
This is an obvious one. However, it’s not a bad idea to be specific about what’s at play. Amendment was passed in Louisiana by the voters. But, there was no provision in the ballot initiative calling for marijuana legalization in Louisiana. A medical marijuana permit protects you from being imprisoned. It also includes conditions, such as restrictions on where you can purchase marijuana, how much marijuana you can transport, and how easily it can be transported.
This is not a “get out of jail free” card. If you do not comply with the law’s boundaries, you can still get arrested, prosecuted, fined, and imprisoned for possession of controlled substances. You’ll be considered a felon regardless of the sentence.
2. Supporting Criminals By Buying Illegal Marijuana
If marijuana on the black market is illegal, this means that people who buy black market marijuana are supporting violent crime. Even though some products are from local growers and others may be coming from a cartel with bloody hands. If you buy illegal marijuana, you could be supporting these heinous criminals.
3. The Dispensary Helps Keep Our Economy Afloat By Selling Marijuana
You may be sending money to Central or South American drug lords by buying marijuana on the dark market. It is the sound of millions of dollars fleeing the state’s economies. Whereas purchasing from a marijuana dispensary can help local businesses thrive and expand their reach, it can also help communities.
4. Dispensary Purchases Help The Program Succeed
Illegally buying marijuana reduces support for legalizing it and makes activists less likely to influence future cannabis policy changes. The more patients who use licensed dispensaries to purchase their medicine, the stronger the argument is that the program has benefits.
5. A Dispensary Significantly Reduces The Health Risks
The illegal growers of pesticides and herbicides aren’t legally required to use them. But they don’t have an incentive to make sure the product that they sell is safe. All legal dispensaries have to grow their products according to the same strict guidelines. This includes lab testing to verify that the batch has not been contaminated with toxins, molds, or other harmful substances.
You may think that this is not a problem, given the fact that illegal marijuana has been used for many decades. Long-term health effects from ingesting these chemical and biological toxins into your body may be long-lasting. Witness the recent rash in serious lung injuries and even fatalities caused by black-market vape cartridges to see just how dangerous cannabis products can be.
6. There Are More Options Available When Buying At A Dispensary
While you might be able to get a couple of different strains of marijuana and perhaps some different products, your local drug dealer will not have many options for safe and high-quality strains. They won’t know the quality or formula of those products. It is easy to find out the exact amount of THC and CBD in your medicine when you shop at a dispensary. Many times, you will have many strains to choose from, including high-CBD/low THC strains.
7. When You Purchase At A Dispensary, You Get Expert Guidance
Budtenders, also known as salespeople at dispensaries are required to be well-versed in the use and efficacy of cannabis strains. Yes, your dealer can guarantee you that it won’t make you sleepy. If dispensaries offer advice, they are more at risk than dealers. When dispensaries give poor advice or have products that don’t perform as they promise, they run the risk of losing customers, getting negative reviews, and possibly even being sued.