Opinion

Legalizing pot didn’t kill the black market, it created a marketing department for it

Licensed marijuana dealers are spending money to recruit customers who can later become customers of illegal marijuana dealers

By Scott Chipman Fox News

Published June 8, 2026 5:00am EDT

Facebook Twitter Threads Flipboard Comments Print Email Add Fox News on Google

close

Video

DEA to decide if 21-year-olds can buy marijuana

Fox News correspondent Lucas Tomlinson reports on the DEA’s upcoming hearing on whether adults 21 and older can legally purchase marijuana without restrictions on ‘Fox Report.’

NEWYou can now listen to Fox News articles!

The marijuana legalization movement sold Americans a simple promise: legalize cannabis, regulate it, tax it, and the black market would disappear.

That promise has failed spectacularly.

Today, illegal marijuana dealers remain active across California and throughout the nation. Meanwhile, the "legal" marijuana industry — the very industry that was supposed to replace them — is struggling with declining sales, shrinking profits, surrendered licenses, and falling tax revenues and investment loses.

The problem is not that Americans have stopped using marijuana. That would be a great outcome for public health and safety. The reality is quite the opposite.

MARIJUANA IS NOT HARMLESS. THE OPPOSITE IS TRUE AND THE EVIDENCE KEEPS GROWING

Video

National surveys........

© Fox News