Why is medical marijuana so expensive?

Instead of arguing this in another thread, I was wondering what people think about the price of medical buds for sick people.

From what I understand, buds are sold from between 20 and 30 bucks a gram or 60 bucks or so an eighth. That figures out on the low side to 600 an ounce by the gram or 500 an ounce by eighths. On the high side it could range from 800 to 700 per ounce. That figures out to be around 10,000 dollars per pound. It's my understanding that club owners want to pay 2400 to 3000 per pound. If that's true there's an awful margin between retail and wholesale.

How could someone unable to work, or dying, afford to smoke on a daily basis? A better question seems to be how could a sick or dying person afford to smoke at all?

If these "compassion clubs" actually were concerned in people getting their buds for pain, how can they charge these prices. It saddens me to think of someone not being able to afford it because of the price. I just don't see a whole lot of compassion.....

10K, if this is not suited for this forum just move it......

Well ive heard stories of patients giving $100 donations for Ounces,

technically it is a Donation, and some clubs will give you awesome prices if you haggle enough.

~

Until prohobition ends, medical prices will always be in the same ballpark as black market prices. Maybe very slightly lower do to less legal risk, but not by much if any.

JJScorpio said:

Instead of arguing this in another thread, I was wondering what people think about the price of medical buds for sick people.

From what I understand, buds are sold from between 20 and 30 bucks a gram or 60 bucks or so an eighth. That figures out on the low side to 600 an ounce by the gram or 500 an ounce by eighths. On the high side it could range from 800 to 700 per ounce. That figures out to be around 10,000 dollars per pound. It's my understanding that club owners want to pay 2400 to 3000 per pound. If that's true there's an awful margin between retail and wholesale.

How could someone unable to work, or dying, afford to smoke on a daily basis? A better question seems to be how could a sick or dying person afford to smoke at all?

If these "compassion clubs" actually were concerned in people getting their buds for pain, how can they charge these prices. It saddens me to think of someone not being able to afford it because of the price. I just don't see a whole lot of compassion.....

10K, if this is not suited for this forum just move it......

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People who are going to bankroll a dispensary probably aren't all that concerned with truly helping people, more making money. I have seen cancer, I have seen people die from it. That being said I don't know how they can live with themselves charging people such outrageous prices. I mean of course top quality bud is and should be expensive but thats a little over the top. What gets me is that even when the market is glutted with weed like now and for the next couple of months because of harvest these guys are pulling pounds in for super cheap because the growers need the cash. Its a racket but until you have an alternative that truly operates on a compassionate basis what alternative do you have? I guess you could designate a grower to take care of you but that assumes you can find a good grower. My

I think the city clubs charge a bit more. Im up here away from everyone and the local club has a rule about not selling anything for over 15 dollars a gram. Many people that cant afford to buy or are unable to grow their own recieve donations from the more fortunate.

in denver many shops charge 130+ for 7g and the quality is crap

ANgrychair said:

Until prohobition ends, medical prices will always be in the same ballpark as black market prices. Maybe very slightly lower do to less legal risk, but not by much if any.

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The black market prices are much cheaper here than the medical clubs.


That's the problem I have with the medical side.

I have SEVERE pain that never stops from a fractured spine.

I need about an Oz a week and I can afford half that.

I cant afford enough medicine now paying $30 an 1/8. I cant imagine trying to survive off medical prices.

Babbabud said:

I think the city clubs charge a bit more. Im up here away from everyone and the local club has a rule about not selling anything for over 15 dollars a gram. Many people that cant afford to buy or are unable to grow their own recieve donations from the more fortunate.

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That's much more acceptable. A sick person might be able to scratch up 300 or so every other month for a bag.....

I know about the donating thing, lol..... I wish the bud ferry would show up and give me a hundred bucks for every ounce I've given away.

It's expensive because it's still technically illegal. Grow your own!!!!!

the problem is this.....markup of Keystone, 50% margin is about normal for a retail establishment.

if the clubs are able to get 60-75% margin, that is only because there are enough people willing to pay that legally to get their meds. Good for the club owners. It is up to them to decide how to give back to the community at large.

I deal with sick people everyday, and I have no moral problem with my 55% profit margin. I have to pay my employees, my landlord, electric etc......then when I have paid everyone else, I am able to pay myself. For clarity, my business is legal and has nothing to do with drugs......

peace
jip

ANgrychair said:

Until prohobition ends, medical prices will always be in the same ballpark as black market prices. Maybe very slightly lower do to less legal risk, but not by much if any.

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the opposite actually.

Medical prices are always going to be more than it costs on the street... always...

if you can get a rec, walk in and walk out with a zip for 200 right now, you think street prices would still be 250-300? lol

MMJ costs more simply because it CAN cost more.

50 an eighth from your dealer? it better be bomb.

50 an eighth for having the convenience of walking into a nice looking building with magazines and A/C, plus a wide selection? Well, most 50 eighths at co ops dont compare with $40 street eighths in quality.

therefore they can get away with charging 60 an eighth for the exact same stuff you can get from a decent dealer for 40-50. easy.


to the OP. Co Ops actually have competition now, other co ops. You take a customer base that is willing to pay 60 an eighth all day long, the supplier for that customer base will GLADLY pay 4+k per pound because 60x128(eighths in a lb)=$7680

There arent too many clubs charging anything near or over 70, most is 60 or less. so these figures of 10k a lb... In cali? nope it aint happenin.

$7680
-5000 (what top quality indoor can get from co ops that have cash and no supply, this is a 'higher end' figure, you show me someone getting more than 5k consistently for their product and I'll show you someone that has no competition, and believe me there is LOTS in CA)
=$2680 per lb gross profit

now this is per POUND. a busy co op can go through multiple lbs a day.


dont get me started on "medical use" by ANYONE that doesnt grow their own. The economics just dont fit.

Nobody is spending $500+ a month on MMJ as their "medicine". Yeah I realize that a TON of prescription pills costs MORE than that, HOWEVER your INSURANCE is paying a shitload of it, would YOU be willing to pay $400 cash for that bottle of pills? didnt think so.

anyone truly using marijuana as medicine and not recreationally as well, is either very well to do financially, has NO other medical options available to them, or is growing their own.

People visiting different collectives, getting a gram or an eighth here or there, checkin out the new flavors... thats not purely medicinal use. however that is 95+% of the clientele. $50 a week to check out 20+ diff "kushs" instead of "some chron" from a dealer. sounds like a deal if I were 18 and lookin to score.

so... why is medicinal cannabis as expensive as it is?

because there is a (high) demand that is willing to pay that price

~

greed.

Because American's moral values get flushed once there's a dollar to be made. Case in point, charging the sick for medications they need. Thats profiting off of illness, no matter how you slice it. Same with prisons. We find something unprofitable, develop a middleman, and viola, profit. That pesky thing we were working to prevent has now become profitable. So now that we are making money off that problem, its no longer a problem. America boasts that its most profitable industry are ths drug companies. The same companies that make money off the sick and dying. For a country thats so up its own ass about its "Christian values", we sure as hell don't follow Jesus' example of just helping people because its right. No, we need another motivator. Money is that motivator. The root of all evil.

ourcee said:

Nobody is spending $500+ a month on MMJ as their "medicine".

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I know a couple that does, both patients, they smoke a QP a month between them. Oooof that's a lot!

I was just thinking about the economics of it though, some random figures for expense, at least in my setup:

Monthly nutes: $400
Monthly upgrades/repairs/maintenance parts (averaged over the year) $500/mo
Power: $400 a month (this would be 4X higher without CARE program)
Clones $1000 (200 clones every 2 months)
My time (30 hrs week, say at $20/hr) $2400 a month

Multiply all of these numbers times about 2.25 for an entire run, and I get $10575 in expenses, roughly per crop. Well hell, my last crop sucked ass, 2.5 pounds, so I lost money on the last one. I know the garden can do better, but economies of scale get tricky with sooo many variables!

Lazyman said:

I know a couple that does, both patients, they smoke a QP a month between them. Oooof that's a lot!

I was just thinking about the economics of it though, some random figures for expense, at least in my setup:

Monthly nutes: $400
Monthly upgrades/repairs/maintenance parts (averaged over the year) $500/mo
Power: $400 a month (this would be 4X higher without CARE program)
Clones $1000 (200 clones every 2 months)
My time (30 hrs week, say at $20/hr) $2400 a month

Multiply all of these numbers times about 2.25 for an entire run, and I get $10575 in expenses, roughly per crop. Well hell, my last crop sucked ass, 2.5 pounds, so I lost money on the last one. I know the garden can do better, but economies of scale get tricky with sooo many variables!

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I've grown pot for almost 30 years and I know what it costs to grow a pound of bud....

Here is exactly what it costs me.... Per 60 day flowering....

Nutes and mollassis- 30 dollars a grow

Power- 30 bucks per month per 600 watt light- 120 dollars per 2 months- 12 on, 12 off

Monthly upgrades? 6,000 a year? Whatever...

Clones- Free. 20 dollars a month to care for mothers....

Time- maybe an average of a half hour a day on a 2 pound grow.

With a pair of 600's and a 6 by 6 foot room I get a little over 2 pounds of of dry bud off 12plants. At the very most, I incur about two hundred dollars in expenses and use about 24 hrs of my own time. One hundred dollars, set aside per grow, easily covers new lights/bulbs/.....


That adds up to 125 dollars per pound. I don't count the labor because the 1/2 per day is one of my most enjoyable times of the day.....

There's quite a difference between 250 per grow for me and 4800 for you....

I have a freind in Co. who is a liscenced caregiver there. He charges his patients 100$ an O of trimmed and cured or 50$ an O if they trim their own. Either way its a good deal compared to alot of the rapists that are out there killing the market with this $500 dollar an O shit. Good thread JJ, peace and shine on bro.

WeldFlash420 said:

I have a freind in Co. who is a liscenced caregiver there. He charges his patients 100$ an O of trimmed and cured or 50$ an O if they trim their own. Either way its a good deal compared to alot of the rapists that are out there killing the market with this $500 dollar an O shit. Good thread JJ, peace and shine on bro.

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I am not saying what you said isn't true, but I am haven't heard of anything close to those prices.

250 an ounce is the lowest I have heard that I could confirm.

I know a few that give some away, but the paying patients make it even out.

100 bux an ounce is too low, just my opinion. That is asking for trouble with tempting folks to sell it then just re-up.

JJScorpio said:

I've grown pot for almost 30 years and I know what it costs to grow a pound of pot. Your figures are rediculous. Why even post something so far fetched?

Here is exactly what it costs me.... Per 60 day flowering....

Nutes and mollassis- 30 dollars a grow

Power- 30 bucks per month per 600 watt light- 120 dollars per 2 months- 12 on, 12 off

Monthly upgrades? 6,000 a year? Whatever...

Clones- Free. 20 dollars a month to care for mothers....

Time- maybe an average of a half hour a day on a 2 pound grow.

With a pair of 600's and a 6 by 6 foot room I get a little over 2 pounds of of dry bud off 12 small plants. At the very most, I incur about two hundred dollars in expenses and use about 24 hrs of my own time. One hundred dollars, set aside per grow, easily covers new lights/bulbs/.....


That adds up to 125 dollars per pound. I don't count the labor because the 1/2 per day is one of my most enjoyable times of the day.....

There's quite a difference between 250 per grow for me and 4800 for you....

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This is what my expenses are as well. The other #'s are just ridiculous
My expenses where higher when I started only because of equipment needed at start up. But on a monthly basis between 150-200$