The provincial government unveiled new provincial legislation aimed at taking another bite out of the black market for cannabis.

Justice Minister Cliff Cullen proclaimed the cannabis possession rules on Monday, which will give provincial inspectors the ability to issue tickets and make seizures related to cannabis. These are the first provincial officials to be given this enforcement capabilities.

The amendment will make it an offence to possess 30 grams of non-medical cannabis in a public place, regardless of how legal the weed is. It will also be an offence to possess cannabis that is not packaged, stamped and labelled in accordance with federal legislation. The fine for all of this will be $672.

“This will give our enforcement officers another tool in their tool box to deal with illegal quantities and packaging of cannabis,” said Cullen.

How much of an impact these changes will have on the illicit market remains to be seen.

While some reports have proclaimed these markets continue to thrive despite legalization, in August, Bloomberg reported StatsCan statistics of a 21% decline in Canada’s black market since legalization.

“When we got into the cannabis market, the intent was to have an impact on the black market, so what we are doing is trying to provide a safe product to Manitobans,” said Cullen.

Delta 9 CEO John Arbuthnot pointed to a number of issues early in legalization, including convenient access to stores, pricing and national supply of legal pot that hampered the launch and gave an extended life to the illicit market.

Legitimate companies, however, are starting to close the gap.

“This is a process, as we look out over the next several years and you can see it’s very likely, year over year, we will continue to see legal market sales taking sales away from the blackmarket,” said Arbuthnot.

The black market should fall even further as edibles start to become available next Monday, even if in small amounts. The market is expected to really grow in the new year with more than a dozen products available, ranging from vapes to edibles, concentrates and drinkables.

For Arbuthnot, this is where their market may make a jump forward.

“The more that we can do to create value for the consumer, the more and more they will shift away from the black market,” he said.

Cullen added the legislation will continue to evolve in the new year as more edibles become available.