Royal Canadian Mounted Police busted a large-scale cannabis edible and psilocybin distribution operation on Vancouver Island in early October.
The investigators announced their achievement on Tuesday. Six suspects were arrested.
After executing search warrants at two dispensaries and five residences, police found more than 120,000 illicit cannabis edibles, 3 kilograms of magic mushrooms, hundreds of psilocybin products, multiple pounds of cannabis flower and derivatives.
Namely, the Coastal Storm Dispensary on the island’s community of Lantzville and Green Coast Dispensary in Port Alberni.
Also, more than C$400,000 cash, two ATMS, a shotgun and contraband tobacco equivalent to 82,000 packs of cigarettes were seized.
RCMP say that although the products may appear to be professionally packaged, they were manufactured in an unsanitary and highly questionable environment.
“We urge members of the public to practice extreme caution if they already possess, or come across such products in the future,” the authorities said in a news release, “especially with Halloween being just around the corner.”
Read more: Three more crooks plead guilty to involvement in ‘Operation Sticky Fingers’ heist
Read more: Pedal to the metal! We’ve got way too many mushrooms in the trunk
Black cannabis market continues to thrive in BC
A recent study completed by Vancouver’s Research Co. found that the illicit market in the province is still thriving six years post-legalization.
According to data from its survey conducted with 1,001 participants across Canada, only 39 per cent of BC residents purchase all of their cannabis from licensed sources.
Last year, the Cannabis Council of Canada (C3) estimated that the illicit market share is sitting at approximately 50 per cent — valued at about C$4 billion per annum.
Lower prices are the primary driver of the black marijuana market’s success, C3 says.
“The illicit market continues to prosper,” C3 said last fall, “keeping many of the profits of cannabis in the pockets of criminals while we are at a crossroads for the regulated cannabis sector.”
An estimate from Canada’s Department of Public Safety in late 2022 indicated that about 33 per cent of the domestic industry was still dominated by illicit trade.
rowan@mugglehead.com
