Business
How Much Does Weed Cost?
Unlike products that are skyrocketing in price, cannabis is still illegal on a federal level, and therefore not regulated the same way.
The rise of inflation and increasing prices feels inescapable right now. From the grocery store to the news to politician’s speeches on the campaign trail, increased costs are currently embedded in everyone’s mind. For those who enjoy cannabis recreationally, or rely on its medical benefits, this talk of rising prices may have you worried about the price of weed.
As we have previously reported, however, the price of cannabis is not rising with the rate of inflation. In fact, it is reaching astonishing lows in some cases. According to Cannabis Benchmarks’ recent U.S. Cannabis Spot Index, “Both Colorado’s and California’s spot prices for wholesale flower fell to new all-time lows this week with the outdoor harvest yet to come to market in full force.”
This dip in prices may have you wondering what is going on in the cannabis market. More importantly, it might have you wondering how much weed costs these days, exactly. But the answer is a bit tricky, mostly because it is still illegal on a federal level. Each state sets its own marijuana policies, and in turn the price of weed varies from state to state.
On average, according to OxfordTreatment.com, the national average for an ounce of high quality weed is currently $326, an ounce of medium quality weed is $266, and the national average price of a joint is $7.59. With this said, prices are not likely to rise in the next few months, and could even drop further overall. But this, of course, all depends on where you live. Perhaps the best question to ask in these uncertain economic times is where weed is the most expensive, and where it is the cheapest.
Where Is Marijuana Most Expensive?
Topping the list as the most expensive place to buy weed in the United States is Washington D.C., where, according to OxfordTreatment.com, an ounce of high quality weed is $597.88.
Next on the list is North Dakota, where an ounce of the same weed costs $383.6, followed by Virginia, where it costs $364.89. “These are places where marijuana use is somewhat restricted: In D.C. it is illegal to purchase, in North Dakota it’s only legal for medical use, and in Virginia it’s not legal at any level,” according to the same site.
To put it in even simpler terms, while a joint on average costs $7.59, in the Nation’s Capital, you are likely to pay almost double, at $13.92 a pop.
Where Is Marijuana Cheapest?
What most weed enthusiasts are really after is knowing where they can find the cheapest good weed in the country. If that’s what you’re looking for, head West. The state with the lowest price for quality weed is Oregon, where, according to the same Oxford Treatment data, an ounce of high quality weed will cost you just $210.75. The second cheapest state to buy weed is another West Coast state, Washington. Third on the list is Colorado, where an ounce of high quality weed is $241.74.
All three of these states have legal medical and recreational weed. The markets are well established in these states, as is the industry competition. This means there is ample supply and competition, which likely contributes to these lower rates for quality cannabis.
Why the Price of Weed Is Falling
One statistic that puzzles some who follow the price of weed is why it has seemed to drop in the midst of the inflationary times of 2022. According to Andrew Livingston, director of economics and research at the Denver-based cannabis law firm Vicente Sederberg LLP, there are several reasons for this, including “heavy competition within the regulated market; high taxation rates; the undercutting of prices by illicit or unregulated operators, including street dealers; and the natural growing pains that come with running a business in uncharted territory,” he told CNN.
Everything from the illicit market to increased competition in established legal markets contributes to the low price of cannabis today. Also, unlike products that are skyrocketing in price, cannabis is still illegal on a federal level, and therefore not regulated the same way.
As Zoë Plakias, an assistant professor of agricultural, environmental and development economics at Ohio State University told Courthouse News Service, “If restrictions on the sale of cannabis were lifted, if cannabis was legalized at the federal level, and we saw trade across states, I think we’d see cannabis look much more like other types of markets.” Until that day, the price of weed will likely be more unpredictable and susceptible to many outside factors.
Source: https://thefreshtoast.com/cannabis/how-much-does-weed-cost-2/
New Mexico regulators fined a cannabis operator nearly $300,000 and revoked its license after the company allegedly created fake reports in the state’s traceability software.
The New Mexico Cannabis Control Division (CCD) accused marijuana manufacturer and retailer Golden Roots of 11 violations, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Golden Roots operates the The Cannabis Revolution Dispensary.
The majority of the violations are related to the Albuquerque company’s improper use of BioTrack, which has been New Mexico’s track-and-trace vendor since 2015.
The CCD alleges Golden Roots reported marijuana production only two months after it had received its vertically integrated license, according to Albuquerque Business First.
Because cannabis takes longer than two months to be cultivated, the CCD was suspicious of the report.
After inspecting the company’s premises, the CCD alleged Golden Roots reported cultivation, transportation and sales in BioTrack but wasn’t able to provide officers who inspected the site evidence that the operator was cultivating cannabis.
In April, the CCD revoked Golden Roots’ license and issued a $10,000 fine, according to the news outlet.
The company requested a hearing, which the regulator scheduled for Sept. 1.
At the hearing, the CCD testified that the company’s dried-cannabis weights in BioTrack were suspicious because they didn’t seem to accurately reflect how much weight marijuana loses as it dries.
Company employees also poorly accounted for why they were making adjustments in the system of up to 24 pounds of cannabis, making comments such as “bad” or “mistake” in the software, Albuquerque Business First reported.
Golden Roots was fined $298,972.05 – the amount regulators allege the company made selling products that weren’t properly accounted for in BioTrack.
The CCD has been cracking down on cannabis operators accused of selling products procured from out-of-state or not grown legally:
- Regulators alleged in August that Albuquerque dispensary Sawmill Sweet Leaf sold out-of-state products and didn’t have a license for extraction.
- Paradise Exotics Distro lost its license in July after regulators alleged the company sold products made in California.
Golden Roots was the first alleged rulebreaker in New Mexico to be asked to pay a large fine.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/new-mexico-cannabis-operator-fined-loses-license-for-alleged-biotrack-fraud/
Four marijuana companies, including a multistate operator, have filed a lawsuit against U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland in which they allege the federal MJ prohibition under the Controlled Substances Act is no longer constitutional.
According to the complaint, filed Thursday in U.S. District Court in Massachusetts, retailer Canna Provisions, Treevit delivery service CEO Gyasi Sellers, cultivator Wiseacre Farm and MSO Verano Holdings Corp. are all harmed by “the federal government’s unconstitutional ban on cultivating, manufacturing, distributing, or possessing intrastate marijuana.”
Verano is headquartered in Chicago but has operations in Massachusetts; the other three operators are based in Massachusetts.
The lawsuit seeks a ruling that the “Controlled Substances Act is unconstitutional as applied to the intrastate cultivation, manufacture, possession, and distribution of marijuana pursuant to state law.”
The companies want the case to go before the U.S. Supreme Court.
They hired prominent law firm Boies Schiller Flexner to represent them.
The New York-based firm’s principal is David Boies, whose former clients include Microsoft, former presidential candidate Al Gore and Elizabeth Holmes’ disgraced startup Theranos.
Similar challenges to the federal Controlled Substances Act (CSA) have failed.
One such challenge led to a landmark Supreme Court decision in 2005.
In Gonzalez vs. Raich, the highest court in the United States ruled in a 6-3 decision that the commerce clause of the U.S. Constitution gave Congress the power to outlaw marijuana federally, even though state laws allow the cultivation and sale of cannabis.
In the 18 years since that ruling, 23 states and the District of Columbia have legalized adult-use marijuana and the federal government has allowed a multibillion-dollar cannabis industry to thrive.
Since both Congress and the U.S. Department of Justice, currently headed by Garland, have declined to intervene in state-licensed marijuana markets, the key facts that led to the Supreme Court’s 2005 ruling “no longer apply,” Boies said in a statement Thursday.
“The Supreme Court has since made clear that the federal government lacks the authority to regulate purely intrastate commerce,” Boies said.
“Moreover, the facts on which those precedents are based are no longer true.”
Verano President Darren Weiss said in a statement the company is “prepared to bring this case all the way to the Supreme Court in order to align federal law with how Congress has acted for years.”
While the Biden administration’s push to reschedule marijuana would help solve marijuana operators’ federal tax woes, neither rescheduling nor modest Congressional reforms such as the SAFER Banking Act “solve the fundamental issue,” Weiss added.
“The application of the CSA to lawful state-run cannabis business is an unconstitutional overreach on state sovereignty that has led to decades of harm, failed businesses, lost jobs, and unsafe working conditions.”
Alabama regulators are targeting Dec. 1 to award the first batch of medical cannabis business licenses after the agency’s first two attempts were scrapped because of scoring errors and litigation.
The first licenses will be awarded to individual cultivators, delivery providers, processors, dispensaries and state testing labs, according to the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC).
Then, on Dec. 12, the AMCC will award licenses for vertically integrated operations, a designation set primarily for multistate operators.
Licenses are expected to be handed out 28 days after they have been awarded, so MMJ production could begin in early January, according to the Alabama Daily News.
That means MMJ products could be available for patients around early March, an AMCC spokesperson told the media outlet.
Regulators initially awarded 21 business licenses in June, only to void them after applicants alleged inconsistencies with how the applications were scored.
Then, in August, the state awarded 24 different licenses – 19 went to June recipients – only to reverse themselves again and scratch those licenses after spurned applicants filed lawsuits.
A state judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by Chicago-based MSO Verano Holdings Corp., but another lawsuit is pending.
Source: https://mjbizdaily.com/alabama-plans-to-award-medical-cannabis-licenses-dec-1/
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