It was cold the Tuesday two weeks before Thanksgiving, the type of cold that comes just before winter. A group of young adults walked toward the front of a relatively clean-looking brick building, hot breath and conversation fogging the air. Despite the cold, a line had formed outside the building’s shrouded windows. At the head of the group, Danny, an unauthorized cannabis distributor, whose real name is not Danny, eyed the building suspiciously. Posted in the center of the brick facade was a simple, finely crafted sign. It read: Budr Cannabis.
Two security guards stood grimly inside the entrance. The atmosphere was tense. Customers spoke in hushed tones with focused expressions. Purchases happened quickly and quietly, the exchange of money and goods seeming to blend together. Danny approached one of the secure kiosks, a simple faux-stone countertop equipped with an equally plain black computer. He took a colorful product catalog from the counter. Blank faced, Danny skimmed lists and beautiful close-ups of all the legal cannabis Budr had for sale: pre-rolls, vaporizers, edibles, and liquid concentrates. As a longtime unlicensed cannabis dealer, this was all too familiar for Danny. Unfamiliar, however, were the jacked prices.
The desk attendant wore a flannel over his Budr branded T-shirt, toting a smile on his clean shaven face. He was pleasant enough, but Danny left after a short few minutes, having purchased only a single joint for $30, plus excise and sales tax. It was a good looking joint, don’t get the wrong idea, it’s just Danny would’ve happily sold one of his own customers half an ounce for that price. Mildly disappointed by the experience, Danny and company sauntered over to a parked Subaru, headed back to Danny’s apartment.
On January 3, 2023 cannabis dispensaries all throughout Connecticut opened their doors to recreational consumers. The nineteenth state to legalize both medical and recreational cannabis, Connecticut followed the smell of future tax dollars. Though the industry has seen record-breaking growth these past few years, prices are still a sore point for customers and distributors alike. The majority of medical and recreational cannabis sold in the US is imported from our border nations, Canada and Mexico. This makes regulating prices more difficult than if a larger amount of the product was produced locally. This past August, Connecticut garnered $1.33 million in excise tax from cannabis, 22% below a 2021 revenue estimate published by the state Office of Fiscal Analysis.
Puffing on the tail end of a lit joint, Danny spoke while absentmindedly scrolling through work messages. “It’s bullshit. The state is profiting off of a plant, and made millions, I don’t even know, off this system already,” Danny quietly fumed. “Then they want to turn around and say, ‘Oh, it’s okay to [sell weed] now. Also, we’re taking a huge cut’.”
Danny’s been an unlicensed distributor for more than ten years. He’s experienced the change in cannabis law and enforcement more intimately than most. “Currently, if you want to succeed in the black or gray market, you really need to be offering something extra through your work,” Danny said firmly. “It doesn’t matter whether it’s delivery, lower prices, customer service, all of the above, really.” Given the new legal competition, Danny has paid more attention to customer service. This includes working later hours than the legal distributors. He scooped up a few bags and headed for his front door. “Gimme a sec,” he said, headed for the back of his apartment building.
Alternative music played quietly from a large flat-screen television mounted to the back wall of the living room. The space was pleasant, contrary to Hollywood’s portrayal of a stereotypical dealer’s home. Large comfortable couches surrounded an equally large coffee table. Colored string lights and stylishly designed fixtures adorned the tables and walls. Of course, there was also just about every type of weed related product bagged or scattered across various glass surfaces. Pipes and devices for smoking things, numerous label makers, glass and plastic containers for sale and distribution, and as of August 1, 2022, most of it was legal in the state of Connecticut.
As the night wore thin, so did the small group’s sobriety. Danny spoke about his dislike of Connecticut’s legal cannabis industry and how legacy distributors were being negatively impacted. The black market for cannabis has skirted the law since the 1930’s when Harry Anslinger, America’s first Bureau of Narcotics commissioner, and his legal commission completely outlawed the product. As with prohibition, the product went underground. The underground market Anslinger cast aspersions on was the very same market which sustained and eventually revived the cannabis industry as we know it today. “I don’t like how it was rolled out. I feel like it’s bullshit that Fine Fettle and Curaleaf are just allowed free reign of the state, basically.” Fine Fettle and Curaleaf are corporate cannabis distributors, operating across a combined twenty-eight states. “Maine did a much better job with their rollout, you have small, one or two shop places that have people passionate about the product.”
Danny crossed his arms and sunk deeper into his ottoman. “It depends on how the legalization plays out.” He paused, looking across the room, he said, “I believe the government shouldn’t be allowed to regulate and collect tax on [at least] small cannabis operations after decades of using its criminalization as a source of revenue as well as a method of suppressing and enslaving some disenfranchised groups.” Danny grimaced. “If we continue to see large corporations dominate the legal market, small-time sellers eventually won’t be able to compete in a profitable way.” Danny was adamant the criminalization of cannabis has been “deliberately used as an act of violence by members of the government.”
Glancing at his phone for the umpteenth time, Danny stood up explaining briefly he had to drive somewhere to “meet one of his boys.” He said we were welcome to hang out until he got back.
David Kaback is a Staff Writer for Blue Muse Magazine.
Header Image courtesy of MyBudSense (menu)
Great story!