Lead image via
Across the legal weed landscape, licensed pot shops, legislators, and law enforcement have complained about black market cannabis as a persistent thorn in the side of the reform movement. But now, after years of competing against untaxed underground dealers, one Las Vegas grower and retailer is ready to fight back against Nevada’s remaining illicit industry.
According to the New York Post, licensed Sin City dispensary Acres Cannabis recently debuted a new pricepoint house brand aimed directly at converting black market holdouts to Nevada’s licensed market. Instead of calling your local dealer for prices that undercut the dispensary, “Black Market Killer” — or “BMK” for short — will cost customers just $25 per eighth ounce.
Grown outdoors and registering slightly lower THC percentages than its top-shelf counterparts, Acres CEO John Mueller is confident that there is a market for low-priced pot that is grown and tested under the states rigorous health and safety standards. Mueller compared BMK with boxed wine, noting the brand’s affordability and potential role as a social lubricant instead of a prized head stash.
“Our budtenders tell us that they bring BMK to parties, and keep the fancier cannabis at home for themselves; just like you put your fine bottle of Cabernet on a top shelf and save it for a special occasion,” Mueller told the Post. “After taxes, BMK might be slightly higher than the black market stuff. But our cannabis is government approved and stringently tested for purity. It won’t contain e-coli or salmonella like the black market pot sometimes does.”
Acres is currently advertising the BMK line with a large roadside billboard just blocks off the Las Vegas strip, complete with the tagline “Ditch your dealer, stop into a dispensary.” And despite a vertically integrated business model that allows Acres to both produce and sell its own pot, Mueller said that the company is already distributing the BMK line to other dispensaries, as well as their own branded pot shop. The company also has plans to spread the affordable weed across the Silver State.
“The idea is to put out a product that eliminates poop-weed, as we call it,” Mueller said.
In addition to Nevada’s BMK, California’s pro skater-owned pot brand, Devil’s Lettuce, has brought a similar business model to the Golden State’s upstart cannabis industry. The company offers specially-selected outdoor flower sold in half-ounce packages, created with the aim to reduce the price as much as possible without sacrificing on quality.
Follow Zach Harris on Twitter
