{"id":41656,"date":"2018-04-11T17:30:00","date_gmt":"2018-04-11T17:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/california-legal-weed-sales-lagging-behind-expectations-analysts-say\/"},"modified":"2018-04-11T17:30:00","modified_gmt":"2018-04-11T17:30:00","slug":"california-legal-weed-sales-lagging-behind-expectations-analysts-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/california-legal-weed-sales-lagging-behind-expectations-analysts-say\/","title":{"rendered":"California\u2019s Legal Weed Sales Are Lagging Behind Expectations, Analysts Say"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>It&apos;s only been four months since California opened its doors to what is expected to be the world&apos;s largest legal adult-use cannabis market, but the transition <a href=\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/many-california-towns-ban-marijuana-despite-statewide-legalization\">hasn&apos;t been seamless<\/a>. Despite many predicting that the state will see <a href=\"https:\/\/cannabisnow.com\/california-on-pace-to-sell-4-billion-of-cannabis-this-year\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">upwards of $4 billion in legal sales<\/a> by the end of 2018, new research suggests that the start to this new, verdant era is moving slower than expected.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.sacbee.com\/news\/state\/california\/california-weed\/article208196024.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">According to the <em>Sacramento Bee<\/em><\/a>, Colorado-based marijuana data crunchers at BDS Analytics have dug through California&apos;s first two months of adult-use weed sales and found that business wasn&apos;t quite as booming as industry insiders had predicted before January&apos;s retail cannabis kick-off.<\/p>\n<p>With around $339 million in total cannabis product sales in January and February combined, the Golden State is 13% behind BDS&apos; originally estimated $383 sales total. To understand why the marijuana market hasn&apos;t swelled as quickly as many assumed, we have to consider a number of factors.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/recreational-cannabis-sales-finally-legal-in-california-new-years-day-rush\">Beginning on New Year&apos;s Day<\/a> and continuing through April, California pot consumers have complained about the state-approved industry&apos;s hefty state and local tax rates. Compounding those pricing issues with recent reports of a <a href=\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/culture\/how-the-first-month-of-legal-cannabis-went-in-california\">still-thriving black market<\/a>, as well as <a href=\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/many-california-towns-ban-marijuana-despite-statewide-legalization\">huge swaths of legal weed access deserts<\/a>, the semi-underwhelming start to retail sales begins making a little more sense.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Medical marijuana killed the black market. This is bringing it back,&quot; an anonymous customer <a href=\"https:\/\/mjbizdaily.com\/4b-brave-new-world-updates-launch-californias-rec-market\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">told reporters from Marijuana Business Daily<\/a> on January 1st after leaving a Bay Area dispensary with a $13 gram of hash that he said cost only $10 before recreational taxes. &quot;I almost didn&apos;t even buy this,&quot; the customer said.<\/p>\n<p>Those sentiments were reiterated by Kristi Knoblich, the board president of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cacannabisindustry.org\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">California Cannabis Industry Association<\/a>. &quot;Sales are happening but they&apos;re not happening in the regulated market,&quot; Knoblich <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sacbee.com\/news\/state\/california\/california-weed\/article208196024.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">told the <em>Sacramento Bee<\/em><\/a> this week.<\/p>\n<p>But before potential ganjapreneurs and legal weed investors pull their funds from California&apos;s green rush, BDS analysts were quick to hedge their dark cloud predictions, suggesting that warm weather months and continued licensing could right the ship before the fiscal year is out.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;I&apos;m not overly concerned at this point,&quot; Greg Shoenfeld, vice president for operations at BDS, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sacbee.com\/news\/state\/california\/california-weed\/article208196024.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">explained to the <em>Bee<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>And in some parts of the state, like San Diego, observers are still <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sandiegouniontribune.com\/news\/marijuana\/sd-me-marijuana-firstthreemonths-20180327-story.html\" rel=\"nofollow\">confident about the success of the nascent market<\/a>. Plus, with only 600 or so licensed cannabis operators serving nearly 40 million California residents, it&apos;s expected that increased access to legal weed will spread throughout the Golden State as regulators continue granting permits. Next month, <a href=\"https:\/\/mjbizdaily.com\/california-reminds-marijuana-firms-temporary-licenses-set-to-expire\/\" rel=\"nofollow\">the California Bureau of Cannabis Control will begin handing out permanent canna-business licenses<\/a>, ending four months of limited temporary permitting.<\/p>\n<p>By the end of the current fiscal year, BDS Analytics still expects California&apos;s legal weed businesses to rake in over $1.15 billion in total sales. Not too shabby, Cali.<\/p>\n<p><em>Follow Zach Harris on <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/10000youtubes\" rel=\"nofollow\">Twitter<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>With the Golden State\u2019s temporary canna-business licenses set to expire at the end of the month, high taxes and limited local access have created a slow transition out of the black market.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":41657,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3036],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>California\u2019s Legal Weed Sales Are Lagging Behind Expectations, Analysts Say - Merry Jane<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/merryjane.com\/news\/california-legal-weed-sales-lagging-behind-expectations-analysts-say\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"California\u2019s Legal Weed Sales Are Lagging Behind Expectations, Analysts Say - 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