Lafayette – It’s been a few years since the first medicinal marijuana products became available to patients in Louisiana and earlier this month the raw smokeable form was added to the list of available options.
But medicinal marijuana patients in the state are concerned about the pricing.
One of the biggest advocates of medicinal marijuana, senator and pharmacist Fred Mills said he hopes as time goes on prices will go down.
“My hope is that more production takes place, more consumption takes place, and then it’ll be volume-driven,” he said.
Before HB391 was passed last summer by governor John Bel Edwards, the only options for medicinal marijuana patients were products like gummies, oils and tinctures.
Often times these products were pricey due to the processing it goes through.
“I think there were two catalysts to make this flower form legal,” Mills said. “One was the affordability standpoint. The other was the efficacy.”
However, for many patients across the state excitement turned to shock when they saw how expensive the raw flower was.
One patient said “they said it would be cheaper, but it’s not.”
Another with similar thoughts said “I’ve been waiting on the flower option. But this is more than double the street price.”
The cost for an eighth of an ounce of the flower sold by the state’s nine regional monopoly pharmacies ranged from $35 in Lake Charles to $60 in West Monroe and as high as $80 in New Orleans.
“People will resort to the cheapest option,” said a Lafayette resident who has family members that have benefited from medicinal marijuana. “Because especially with times like this where a lot of prices are increasing, they’re going to look for the best deal they can find. And if that is on the street then that’s what they’ll have to resort to.”
Mills said “you want to make sure the black market doesn’t have a pricing that is so low, patients migrate to that.”
While still in its early stages of being legal he said more competition will be the force that brings prices down in line with what patients are willing to pay.
“You’re going to have to have more patients, more mass, probably more production and more competition,” Mills said.
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