FILE PHOTO: In this Nov. 11, 2020 file photo, jars of marijuana are seen on display at Montana Advanced Caregivers, a medical marijuana dispensary, in Billings, Mont. The Montana Senate on Friday, April 23, 2021, passed a bill to implement a recreational marijuana program in the state, which would reserve tax revenue from sales for addiction treatment and statewide conservation efforts. Voters approved a ballot measure last year to legalize recreational marijuana sales. The ballot measure also sought to divert a significant portion of tax revenue toward conservation efforts.
Brett Sholtis was a health reporter for WITF/Transforming Health until early 2023. Sholtis is the 2021-2022 Reveal Benjamin von Sternenfels Rosenthal Grantee for Mental Health Investigative Journalism with the Rosalynn Carter Fellowships for Mental Health Journalism. His award-winning work on problem areas in mental health policy and policing helped to get a woman moved from a county jail to a psychiatric facility. Sholtis is a University of Pittsburgh graduate and a Pennsylvania Army National Guard Kosovo campaign veteran.
Matthew Brown / AP Photo
FILE PHOTO: In this Nov. 11, 2020 file photo, jars of marijuana are seen on display at Montana Advanced Caregivers, a medical marijuana dispensary, in Billings, Mont. The Montana Senate on Friday, April 23, 2021, passed a bill to implement a recreational marijuana program in the state, which would reserve tax revenue from sales for addiction treatment and statewide conservation efforts. Voters approved a ballot measure last year to legalize recreational marijuana sales. The ballot measure also sought to divert a significant portion of tax revenue toward conservation efforts.
(Harrisburg) — The state’s office of medical marijuana director says cannabis dispensaries are failing to pass along cost savings to patients.
Average wholesale dry-leaf cannabis dropped from $10.65 per gram in January 2021 to $6.65 per gram over the past month, Director John Collins said at a March 22 advisory board meeting. That’s a 38% decrease.
Meanwhile, average retail dry-leaf cannabis fell from $14.90 per gram to $13.40 over the same period — a decline of just 10%.
The number of grower-processors and dispensaries has exploded during that same period, Collins noted. The number of medical cannabis users has also increased. Those are both factors that should lead retail prices to drop.
I’m listening in to the @PAHealthDept‘s medical marijuana advisory board meeting. MMJ Director John Collins says retail prices are not falling in line with wholesale prices. “This is not a good trend,” Collins says. He says patients should demand a price drop. @witfnewspic.twitter.com/bsFDVUuNaG
Regulators have few options because of how the rules were written in Pennsylvania, said Collins, who is retiring from his position this year. The state could implement price caps, but that may not address the issue. “We’re seeing the evidence of a competitive market, but this is again illustrating a bit of a holdback on passing those savings along to patients,” Collins said.
Patients should be demanding lower prices, and an advisory board subcommittee should scrutinize why retail prices aren’t falling, Collins said. The advisory board is intended to ensure patient access, safety and treatments.
“I’m clearly calling out today, secretary, a red flag that needs to be investigated,” said Collins, responding to a question from Pennsylvania Health Secretary Keara Klinepeter.
Acting Secretary of Health Keara Klinepeter speaks with members of the media during a news conference at Grandview Health in Sellersville, Pa., Monday, Jan. 24, 2022. (AP Photo/Matt Rourke)
High prices are a problem because they force some patients out of the legal medical cannabis market, said Lehigh Valley NORML Executive Director Jeff Riedy.
“We’ve been pressing the department for many years, obviously since the program began, that everything was priced out of the range of many patients,” Riedy said.
The state has recently implemented initiatives to waive annual cannabis license fees for some lower income people, Riedy noted. That has helped people. However, costs remain high for many of the approximately 460,000 people in Pennsylvania who rely on the legal cannabis market.
“It’s serving the industry more than it’s serving the patients right now, and that needs to change,” Riedy said.
Marijuana advocates have long criticized Pennsylvania’s tightly regulated system, which does not allow recreational marijuana, nor products such as edible cannabis and home cultivation of marijuana plants. A recent national report gave the commonwealth a “C-” ranking, recommending some of those changes.
Five companies with midstate retail locations — Zen Leaf Dispensaries, Trulieve, RISE, Fluent and Organic Remedies — did not respond to requests for comment.
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