Legal prices vs MedMan prices
I saw this topic pop up in a review thread and I didn't want to hijack that thread, so...
Someone mentioned Ohio and how they handle their medical cannabis sales, and it got me to thinking about costs.
I live in west Texas. I have to go to Trinidad Colorado to find the nearest dispensary to me. My first time ever to a legal dispensary was at the CannaCo dispensary on the south side of Trinidad. It's right next door to the Walmart. Since then I have visited several more there. I highly recommend you visit Trinidad Colorado (pun!). It is a boom town for the Kind.
The cost of fuel, meals, and the stress of crossing state lines with quantities of a mostly harmless plant all equals out to about what a 1/2 oz of premium goes for here. So it would be more economical for me to buy quantities that have the word "pound" in it somewhere in Colorado than a 1/2 ounce of premium from here. The paranoia factor between Raton Pass and Texline is high though, the more you carry the more paranoia in that section. I wonder if it isn't some kind of government mind control. 
So I order from here. The stress factor is nil, and a paid official from the Post Office hand delivers my meds right to my mailbox. That's way much better than a paid state official cuffing my hands and taking my meds.
I have been to Alaska, and the way they sell cannabis is how it ought to be done, imho. I was there last winter and experienced my first ever -40 temps. If you ask "is that in Celsius or Fahrenheit?" my answer is 'yes'. (old joke, I know)
So, to anyone living in/near a legal state, what are some of the gripes/problems with how your particular state does things? What kind of quality and quantity issues do they have? Someone mentioned that the prices in Ohio were higher than here, and I find that amazing.
Comments
TX here. Hoping to watch prohibition fall down completely here in TX. Still very much looking forward to my first visit to an actual dispensary.
For me , the only option has always been the black market. Medman is a true godsend.. along with organic gardening. 😌
Medical cannabis has been legal in Ohio since 2017. Quality has improved dramatically as has variety. Unfortunately, the costs are pretty damn high and there are quantity restrictions that really bite. Ohio sells most of its flower in prepackaged 1/10ths...the Ohio Tenth. Tier 1 flower (up to 22.9%) generally runs $32-$40 a tenth. Most Tier 2 (23%+) is $40-$50 a tenth. They sometimes package 1/5s, halves, and ounces at slight discounts. You don’t get a discount by buying 5 1/10ths. So a half ounce of $50 Tier 2 flower would be $250 or $500 an ounce. I’ve had one dispensary that gave a 10% discount if you buy an ounce. Prices of concentrates, Vapes, edibles, etc. are also pretty high, but are more comparable to here. Ohio patients are also limited to a 45 day supply. A half-ounce of Tier 2 flower costs 9 days.
The dispensaries in Michigan are a little expensive but the quality is amazing. Around $50 for 3.5 grams of high quality flower. Carts go for about $50-$60 for 1g carts. Edibles are around $20 for 100mg gummies. I prefer buying carts from dispensaries because they are tested, so I feel better about the safety of the oil. This is just my experience, prices could be different in other parts of the state. But I can't overstate the convenience of the dispensaries. I can order online and pickup my products curbside. They literally bring your order to your car. What a world we live in.
I too live here in the “bible belt”! (If god put it here whys it illegal???) i made a trip to colorado a few years ago, and made the 14 hour trek back wirh over 60 grams of wax, and a few ounces. Never have i ever been so nervous in my entire life.
Well, Ohio sounds awful as far as medical cannabis goes. Over regulated, over taxed, over greedy profiteering... but at least it is available, unlike Texas. Oh, yeah, we have a so called medical program but it is so stupidly set up and micromanaged that only about a dozen people in the state qualify as a medical cannabis patient.
i would think it helps in Michigan that the quality is good enough that it helps to offset the inflated prices. You know a dispensary must make a profit to stay open, but they also don't want to drive customers away with high prices, so they cut costs everywhere they can and taxes ain't one of them.
I hear in Oklahoma it is pretty easy to get a card and buy medical cannabis, and the prices sounded tolerable.
Yes, the prices are a bit high, but I have no problem paying for quality product. They charge a 10% "Cannabis Tax" on all purchases. I still use this site for purchasing cannabis, but it's nice to have options.
The only worthwhile aspect of government weed IMHO is the testing of product. That’s just one of the reasons why costs and the resulting retail prices are high compared to underground.
I’ve been buying and consuming untested cannabis for decades without any problems I know of, but a ‘microscopic’ look at what I’m putting into my body now that I’m pushing 60 is of interest. Still not worth the substantial added costs ($500/zip eek), not to mention having greater visibility on government-run rosters 👎
I have done denver runs and after the crazy tax they charge it is about the same
We just legalized it last week here in Az. I christened the dispensary around the corner and bought a half oz of True OG for $140. But they stick an 8.5% sales tax and a16.25% excise tax on it.
Denver its 27% tax for rec users
big yikes... still can't wait for my 1st ever trip to a dispensary. coming from DEEP in prohibition land.
this thread more than anything else... makes me just have to say... grow your own!!!
I encourage each and every one of you, even the people who are (like me) in prohibition land... especially the people in prohibition land... to grow their own. if you're OK enough w. "breaking the law" to smoke .. you should be able to put a little 2x2ft grow tent with 1-2 small plants.. and pull 1-2 oz. of your own medicine..
like someone else said. options are nice. i agree with that. but i'm also SUPER glad that i'm not beholden to some of those options. (the ridiculous taxes, unscrupulous dealers, etc). i definitely encourage anyone who can, to try their hand at gardening. but i also recognize that medman & crew have all given ALL of us another legitimate (in my mind) source to avoid those same other options.
unfortunately i think TX will be one of the last to fully legalize. just hope it happens in the next decade or so. (i think even that is pushing it, but you never know!) here's to hoping.
I WISH I could grow, but where I live there's just no way as of now.
Maybe once I put up my fence.
I have a few beans I've been holding.
Don’t need fences indoors 😉
I will say you become a slave to the garden for up to 4 months, there’s an itch of paranoia, and the upkeep can be challenging. But do it right and it’s all worth it.
hehe. yeah. time has to be right. glad i worked up the nerve tho..
I got me 6 sunset sherbert beans I have to get going. Where I live not many people bother me. 1 word "camouflage " I had a cop stand 10ft from 4 plants in early fall he never saw a thing and he looked right over them
@MNTDWLER nice!!! i have a couple gelato 41 x sunset sherbet beans from / Loud-Cannagenix over at dagga.love .. cant wait to pop them. probably gonna be later this year.
"dark sunset". something tells me these are gonna be winners.
@v32Finish I always follow the almanac my brother, it was good enough for grandpa it's good enough for me. And so far it hasn't failed me except for the unforeseen late spring frosts.
@funkynugz
This is true! I have 2 extra rooms, so probably doable!
Any links to growing indoors, fam?
I can get some know how from my Pop, but any extra help would be amazing.
Thanks yall!
💚💨
There's something to be said for the experience, too. The Buying Experience.
I'd rather order up some Lavender in the morning while thinking about my day's jobs, check in with this forum, get my herb ordered the week before from the mailbox...why on Earth would I want to go to a dispensary? This isn't a TV show, with cute budtenders and funny people in the lobby. It's a sad, depraved quasi-medical shithole. With heavy glass and security. (I'm talking the ones in my town, your results may be different.)
Anyway, the experience matters. Flowers are not meant to be sold underneath heavy, plated glass. Medicine is not meant to be sold that way.
For the record, the Ohio "best deal" for me is the 14g containers of shake. You can get them for roughly $100 but never the best, high-THC strains. Selection is limited. As @TheProfessor described, the "Ohio Tenth" is the thing they want to sell. Did you think an 1/8th was small? Check out one of ours. It's like buying a $25 shot of booze. Just feels weird considering how fast it's gone...
I visited only one dispensary in Las Vegas last year and because of the Kung Flu they were a little paranoid with how they let people inside. Other than that that, the experience was cool.
They had huge monitors on the wall and if you said “let me see what the bud looks like” they punched a button and a picture popped up on the screen. There was no shelves of flowers behind them. If you did decide on a particular strain, then they brought out the jar and filled your order in front of you.
I remember ordering a 1g pre-roll of Durban Poison and hitting the interstate in a nice state of mind.
While in Alaska, it was nice to be able to drop in at a dispensary and grab something quick while heading out somewhere. The different dispensaries there grow their own supplies so depending on what you wanted you went to different stores. One place had Durban. Oh my, I love Durban.
I appreciate this site the most though, the delivery convenience is what does it for me.
@MigraineWarrior79 heres really the only site you need to get growing:
https://www.growweedeasy.com/
@funkynugz
Thank you so much!
💨💚
Need a disjointed shop in my local area if anyone's watched it
When Colorado legalized in 2014, took an obligatory road trip to Pueblo. Due to many dispensaries, prices were comparable to this site. 1/2 oz was ~ $180 at the time. Visited only one dispensary - purchased 3 excellent strains - Trainwreck, Hawaiian Haze, and Durban Poison... All were Indoor quality or better... Loved the great variety of strains available... sometimes strain availability is seasonal...
I've grown my own a few times. I had a nice setup in my basement with a grow tent. For me it was a steep learning curve, getting the temp controlled, correct nutrients, etc. The main issue I had was the smell when my plants were flowering. Even with a filtering system, the smell was strong. I didn't mind, but my wife was not pleased. I purchased autoflowering seeds from a Canadian website.
With legal cannabis and my growing family, I can't see myself growing again for quite some time. It was a lot of fun though. Nothing like blazing your own product. But these days, I prefer vape carts and edibles because it allows me to be more discreet, and my wife doesn't like the smell.
Concur, love my flower, looking at it smelling it, but unfortunately also gotta go more discreet than would prefer have to be
@Vapedad78
One of my favorite shows! I wish it would have had more seasons
@MigraineWarrior79 yeah my gf and I came across it while partaking and it had us cracking up, especially the first season or part. It gets a little more out there as it went along but woulda liked more episodes for sure.
@georgetirebiter I agree about the buying experience being important. My preferred dispensary is incredibly clean and professional. It has a "boutique" feeling to it. There is security, but they're friendly and I feel safer knowing that they're present. Staff can be hit or miss, but I go in knowing what I want, so it's rarely a problem. Plus, I can order online and pick up via curbside.
Have only been to dispensaries in California. I feel that the prices here are a tad better than the ones I have bought from (without tax). If you throw in tax, then this site beats the places I have visited hands down (in Los Angeles, they have city, state, and rec taxes they add on to the checkout price that is around like 30% I think from what I remember).