Legal Cannabis vs Illegal Cannabis 

What’s the difference?

With illegal cannabis shops still on every corner, you may wonder “Why should I buy from a legal dispensary?”

Surely, that shop on your block tried to tempt you with a flashy green-neon cannabis-leaf sign and offered the lowest prices that you have ever seen! The product says Sativa, Sour Diesel! Sounds amazing! But what are they actually selling? In short, No One Knows, as product packaging almost never correlates with the actual contents inside. In reality however, it is likely a completely random Hybrid with fake THC percentages labeled on the packaging. (Photo Credit: Gale A. Brewer)

The reason for that is that whether the product is a cannabis flower, a preroll or a vape cartridge, products sold in these cannabis-themed bodegas, “Exotic-Candy” shops, and “Zaza Dispensaries” have not been tested for active ingredients nor harmful toxins, which unfortunately are most likely present. The packaging may show a QR code, yet most lead to nowhere, or at best to an arbitrary lab-test that has nothing to do with the batch that’s inside that package. 

Here is our table of key differences between buying from an illegal shop vs a legal dispensary: