After a slight uptick in March, the medical marijuana market continued its slow-moving free-fall and has dropped to one-quarter of the size of the adult-use market three years after recreational sales began.
It’s because the “Medical” side of the market doesn’t actually exist. Want CBD heavy bud? Nope, not, “enough demand”. Just higher and higher concentration of THC for the medical patients.
It’s fake as hell. Not every medical patient has the same needs, so why the hell is it all the same weed?
Nowadays the hemp/CBD flower shops are more “medical” than any of the “medical” shops.
For here in Tucson, I recommend Healthful Flowers over on Speedway and Craycroft. The only legit “medically valuable” hemp/cannabis dispensary in town.
So yeah, to the “medical” dispensaries out there, it’s adapt or die, and most are choosing to just make “medical cannabis” into “discount recreation cannabis” and wondering why their medical patients stop showing up.
Yeah the products needed for medical are rarely the same as for recreational use.
While lawmakers and the average citizen may not realize there’s a difference, it’s all just weed to them, the differences can be life altering for actual medical patients that need specific cannabinoids for their treatment.
Also, back to the article specifically, I’m sure a decent chunk of that drop is also “medical” patients who weren’t actually medical no longer jumping through hoops for recreational products.
Fair point. But I also know a few of examples to the contrary. My sister and my father both had medical cards. They’ve stopped renewing them, because for them the recreational side is sufficient. It’s just less stress. Although I’m very much not sure about the prices. It seems like they are making short-term decision on the expensive paperwork and in so doing paying a lot more long-term in excise taxes.
I don’t even have a medical card. But I am just incredibly tired of ever increasing THC percentages in the products. I need a substantial amount of CBD in the product to not be stuck in a mind-racing, anxious hell. So a majority of the recreational market just does NOT appeal to me.
I lived in Portland, Oregon for about 7 years after they legalized. Their market was so different. I could find almost any combination of cannabinoids that I would want. Even on the recreational side. I wonder if it has anything to do with the markets maturity in a given state? Perhaps people trend away from high THC strains after a few years?
