Minnesota started allowing users of the medical marijuana program to buy and consume dried raw cannabis four months ago. It will enable the same patients to buy and consume marijuana-infused edibles in a month.
Both modifications aimed to reduce program costs and take into account how patients use medicinal marijuana to treat any of the program-covered ailments. Additionally, it is anticipated that more people would use the program, some of whom may switch from the illicit black or gray market, which sells marijuana that has been examined and allowed by a state government.
Any of that already occurred? Program directors and supporters of medical marijuana in Minnesota think the answer is somewhat of yes and sort of no.
Before March 1 when dried plant could be sold, 26,000 people had signed up for the eight-year-old program. A little over 37,000 people were using the service as of July 7. According to Chris Tholkes, head of the state Office of Medical Cannabis, the number of new or returning registrations has increased from 700 per week to 1,000 per week since March 1. She claimed that the pace had not slowed.
The number of visits to the dispensaries that are permitted by the state is another metric. The number of visits and purchases has increased dramatically, and Tholkes claimed that dried raw cannabis purchases are to blame. However, because of limits on the quantity that could be purchased at once, customers could have needed to make repeated trips to get the same supply.
Tholkes claimed that she had anticipated that patients would start using dried raw cannabis instead of other products, but that hasn’t been the case.
The extract products, according to her, are precisely where they have always been or have even increased significantly. It seems that individuals are still using extracted items, which have a longer-lasting impact, and possibly flower as well.
However, some proponents of medical marijuana claim that fewer people have registered than they had anticipated. They attribute this to higher-than-anticipated prices charged by the state’s two authorized providers and the accessibility of gray market marijuana imported from nearby states where marijuana use for recreational purposes is legal.
“The cost simply didn’t decrease. Maren Schroeder, the policy director and co-founder of Sensible Change Minnesota, a drug-policy reform organization, said, “They didn’t come down in the way any of us expected them to.
The unexpected legalization of hemp-based edibles in the state on July 1 may also have a dampening effect on another anticipated spike of patients on the program in three weeks when they first become accessible. Minnesota is the only state that allows some edibles but is not a legal recreational marijuana state, according to the map of the United States that shows the states that allow marijuana use for recreational purposes.
Program has eight years of history.
Minnesota’s route toward legalizing marijuana products for medical purposes has been winding. Eight years ago, when it was eventually legalized, the restrictions put in place made the state unique. Just 5,000 program participants were a result of only two growers, eight dispensaries, and a small number of certified medical conditions in the first year.
The list of ailments has gotten longer over time, with post-traumatic stress disorder, chronic pain, and unbearable pain ranking as the top three among state patients.
However, the Legislature didn’t allow dried cannabis to be sold, smoked, or used in edible goods until last year. Prior to the start of the program on March 1, patients could only buy creams, vaporizing oils, and more recently, dissolved mints and lozenges. Minnesota was one of just two states that prohibited smoking marijuana using papers or pipes, the most common method of consumption.
The cost was the primary justification for adding dried raw cannabis. Patients chose the black market because the cost of the vaping oils, tinctures, and lotions was so exorbitant due to the quantity of processing required. The price range for legal products, according to a survey by the state medical cannabis office, is between $300 and $360 per month; these prices are not covered by health insurance.
Advocates claimed that if people could purchase flowers, the cost might be slashed in half. The number of patients was predicted to triple or quadruple based on the experience of other states that legalized marijuana for smoking in the middle of their programs. That would equal almost 100,000 Minnesotans who use medical marijuana.
Schroeder claimed that the price has not decreased sufficiently and attributed this to the state only allowing two providers, now Green Goods and Rise.
Schroeder remarked, “The flower that came out is priced pretty premium. Their prices are practically equal, and there is no meaningful market incentive for those prices to decrease. Patients do not want to spend what the two manufacturers are asking. For the patients, that has been pretty frustrating.
According to Schroeder, there are two reasons for the sharp increase in dispensary visits and sales. First, the providers were restricting the size of purchases in the early months due to a lack of supplies. Patients had to make several trips back in order to get what they might have desired to get in a single visit. The second is cost. Customers might choose to purchase an eighth of an ounce, or 3.5 mg, instead of an entire ounce since that is all they can afford, she said.
She claimed that while an ounce of dried cannabis is currently retailing for as much as $480, the same amount in a recreational state like Colorado with many suppliers and fierce price rivalry is less than $200. Despite the fact that it is illegal to import marijuana from states that have legalized recreational use into Minnesota, the price variations may tempt a patient to travel to Illinois or Colorado for their cannabis.
The maximum quantity of dry cannabis that each patient may acquire at once has been increased by both providers. Supply problems, according to Tholkes of the state medical program, are being resolved, but she added that staff members looked at costs in neighboring states and discovered they were equal to those being provided to Minnesota patients.
Attorney Jason Tarasek, who focuses on cannabis law, concurred with Schroeder that the price of medicinal marijuana has been disappointing thus far and is keeping the number of patients lower than anticipated. He stated that he believes Minnesota patients have a more affordable option thanks to the gray market supply of marijuana from neighboring states.
According to Tarasek, as additional states legalize, the supply across the country increases due to the diverted demand from adult-use states. It’s challenging to enforce. There are now 19 states where marijuana for adult use is legal. Federal legalization is about to cross a critical threshold and become unavoidable. There is the stuff all over.
He asserted that “medical consumers are rational actors and they will base their judgments on pricing.”
Another deterrent is the highest yearly charge in the country, which patients must pay: $200 for the majority of patients and $50 for veterans in need of medical help and those with disabilities. The standoff between the House, Senate, and Governor Tim Walz at the conclusion of the regular session claimed numerous casualties, one of which was a bill to reduce the charge to $40.
edibles made from hemp
When the state Department of Health chose to include edibles like gummies and chews in the medical marijuana program and when the legislature legalized the sale of dried cannabis flower last year, neither party could have predicted what would happen this past spring. As long as the edibles are made from industrial hemp, a relative of cannabis, and as long as they contain less than 5 mg of THC, the psychoactive component of hemp, lawmakers quietly approved their sale to the general public. Only 50 mg can be found in each package.
There is nothing to stop a client from eating two hemp-derived delicacies to reach the same intoxication levels, even though the medicinal edible goods that can be bought starting on August 1 can be 10 mg per serving and packages can have 100 mg of THC.
Schroeder, a proponent of the new law who petitioned the Legislature for it, said, “I think it is going to help a lot of patients and make it safer.” The “items we legalized were already being marketed everywhere on the market,” but they will now be subject to age restrictions, labeling regulations, and testing requirements.
Schroeder expressed her expectation that the new market for consumables made from hemp will have an effect on the cost of foods in the medical sector.
She said that because they are now now competing in the hemp sector, the demand for their gummies and chews may decline. It’ll be a test, I promise. Will patients purchase their edibles from the hemp market or from the medical market, and if so, what will be the price difference?
It might further slow down the state medical program’s planned rise in patient numbers.
Tarasek stated, “We’ve practically legalized marijuana through food and beverages today, so it will eat into the medical business.” People may probably decide to self-medicate in this manner rather than visit a medical manufacturer.
Tholkes said she is keeping an eye on the new market but believes there are good reasons why a medical marijuana user should buy delicacies like gummies from state suppliers rather than from the new open market. This is so because marijuana plants, not hemp, are used to make the medical products. As a result, less processing is required to extract and increase the intoxicating effect because marijuana has higher THC levels.
Medical items are subjected to more rigorous testing.
Before we approve products for sale, we approve the labs, ensure they have the proper methodology and certifications, and review the certificates of analysis, according to Tholkes. “With over-the-counter products, none of those things are happening.”
The state board of pharmacy may request test results under the new edibles law, which does require makers to submit samples to an independent testing facility to demonstrate compliance with state regulations. However, because there is no requirement for a license and the pharmacy board only has a small number of employees, it is difficult to easily monitor sales.
While the state statute on hemp-based edibles states that mold, residual solvents, pesticides, fertilizers, and heavy metals may only be present in “trace levels” in goods, the state medical program has set restrictions on chemical content. She remarked, “That’s a subjective boundary.
Patients who genuinely want a guarantee of a safe product will come to us, according to Tholkes. She mentioned how the selling of “artificially derived cannabinoid” edibles has been outlawed in Oregon, one of the first states to legalize recreational marijuana, since regulators are worried about the chemicals used to extract and boost the THC in hemp.
When edibles are added to the medical marijuana program on August 1st, Tholkes said she anticipates a large number of medical marijuana users will try the new edibles on the open market and that price may influence whether or how much they purchase edibles from the state program.
They wouldn’t totally abandon the medical program, she predicted. They value the dose options provided by their pharmacist and the relationship they have with them. A medicinal marijuana certification also offers some defense against legal and criminal consequences when using items obtained through the program.
