While Michigan has undergone a price rout in 2021, with wholesale flower prices falling nearly $500 per pound, the state is virtually guaranteed to attract business from neighboring Ohio where medical cannabis is legal, but prices are significantly higher. Under Michigan law, licensed dispensaries are permitted to sell to registered patients from other states with legal medical cannabis. Historical data from the Ohio Medical Marijuana Control Program indicates that, as of the end of September, a tenth of an ounce of plant material (flower) cost $28.81 or $288.10 per ounce, equivalent to an average retail price for patients of $4,610 per pound. In September in Michigan, as we covered above, the average retail price for flower in the medical cannabis sector was $3,065 per pound, about a third lower than what patients are paying in Ohio. With price differentials at this level, prices falling in Michigan, and Ohio patients upset about local pricing, Ohio patients traveling to Michigan to purchase is bound to occur until Ohio medical cannabis prices come down. Ohio’s medical market opened in January 2019 but prices have not fallen appreciatively.
Cannabis Law Report, 11/03/2021 00:09:00