Why the black market for marijuana is still flourishing in California

Letter to The WSJ. 

"It’s hardly a surprise that the black market for marijuana is still flourishing in California. The majority of the state’s crop has always been exported out of state, where sales remain illegal. So long as there remains a substantial out-of-state market where marijuana is illegal, black-market sales will persist.

Nevertheless, California Gov. Newsom was right to support legalization as a necessary first step to rolling back prohibition. Legalization has substantially reduced the scale of California’s illegal crop, which used to be measured in millions of plants eradicated per year.

Meanwhile, marijuana felonies have drastically dropped since legalization, more than 80,000 legal jobs have been created, and the state is raking in billions in tax revenue per year. It took decades to stamp out moonshining after alcohol prohibition was repealed, and the same will likely be true for marijuana.

Dale Gieringer

Director, California National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws"