‘It’s Easier to Sell a Dream Than Reality’: Inside Canada’s Cannabis Crash

I think there are a few simple reasons:

1. Regulations which tried to completely change how the industry was already operating. The black market worked, decriminalization worked, and rules came in which made some things more punishable, like discreet public use and growing a plant or two.

2. Over-saturation... There are more dispensaries than Starbucks. On top of that, the black market price has come way down. Some of my old dealers* have quarters for $25, sometimes less.

I think it's mainly those two points, but also:

3. The stores are in prominent locations but look like sketchy sex shops. They're dingy and deserted looking on the outside and never see light or the hustle and bustle of the outside world on the inside.

*I oddly enough stopped smoking a year after it was legalized, but my partner still smokes and he can get it for pretty cheap from old contacts.