It's been a little over a week since recreational cannabis became legal in Canada, but local cannabis enthusiast Brock Lewis says that delays in delivery and high prices could cause him and other users to revert to the black market.
The provincially run Ontario Cannabis Store (OCS) website says that delivery times may be longer than expected due to ''extremely high demand' and labour action at Canada Post.
Lewis says the price is a ''little excessive compared to what we're used to paying'' and tells us that many people ''know a guy'' that can sell them weed for cheap.
He says its pretty hard to tell where marijuana comes from if it isn't in official packaging, and says that people could take advantage of it the same way that many cigarette users abuse access to cheap cigarettes that can be purchased on First Nations reservations.
He predicts that eventually the government will be able to keep up with demand, but says that in order to be competitive, the OCS needs to lower the cost of recreational cannabis, offer edibles, and supply other products that are available on the black market.
Without being able to see the product, Lewis notes that ''you never know what you're going to get'' when your product comes in. He hopes that the OCS will correct the site in the future.
The OCS is currently the only legal retailer of weed in the province. Private retail brick-and-mortar stores are set to open in April next year.
Unionized Canada Post employees began rotating strikes this week and nearly 9,000 members walked off the job in the Toronto region on Tuesday.
It is uncertain what the delivery plan is if a province-wide strike cannot be avoided, though Finance Minister Vic Fedeli cited that there was a ''Plan B''.
Fedeli declined to provide details of the plan.
