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How Has Recreational Legalization Affected MMJ Patients?

Jeremy Martin

January 5th, 2017

Policy, Top News

For Bill Fredericks the pain began slowly. A sports injury to his toe that wouldn’t quite heal began affecting his entire foot and then his knee. Over time he would deal with chronic lower back pain, preventing him from exercising and distracting him at work. An employee in Seattle’s booming construction industry, Fredericks needed complete mobility to do his job.

“I was fitted with orthopedics which actually caused more pain, Fredericks said. “I took lots of over the counter pain meds like Tylenol.”

Than in 2013 he applied for a medical marijuana ‘green card.’

“I wanted access to tinctures and things like that, that would help me sleep better and manage the pain. Balms, it turned out were a really pleasant surprise,” Fredericks said.

So too were the prices. It had been eighteen years since Initiative 692 legalized medical cannabis in Washington State and the prices, according to Frederick, $8 grams, $20 single ounce vials of tincture were indicating a healthy, mature industry.

However, for Fredericks, and all of Washington’s medical marijuana patients, things would change dramatically the following year when the state’s recreational cannabis industry launched. In essence, Initiative 502 merged the structured, well established medical industry with with a recreational industry, that in comparison seemed like the wild, wild west.

Those $8 grams would quickly become $20 or even $25, tinctures were harder to come by, and balms were difficult to find in recreational stores.

This all begs the question. Is Washington a model for the recreational transition or does it come off as a cautionary tale for states like California that voted this past fall to legalize recreational cannabis?

Most likely the latter. As Russ Belville, cannabis author and host of The Russ Belville Show on cannabisradio.com explains “California learned from that lesson. Their legislature rushed to get statewide marijuana regulations in place before what they knew would be an inevitably successful push for legalization in 2016.”

That push was Prop 64, which legalizes the possession, consumption, and growth of ‘small amounts’ of marijuana in the state of California.

What it doesn’t do is abolish the state’s medical industry, which currently brings in nearly $5 Million dollars annually and serves over 750,000 people.

Taking that into account, and the potential for early recreational prices to spike, state lawmakers are planning to abolish existing use taxes on medical marijuana while levying a 15% tax on all recreational sales.

That’s in line with Colorado, which currently has the lowest tax rate of all states currently offering legal recreational marijuana. Though, by the time the first legal gram is sold in the Golden State, Colorado will have lowered its rate to 8%.

It’s very possible that California’s recreational and medical industries will function, at least financially in a similar way to those in Colorado. According to taxfoundation.org, sales of recreational cannabis in the Rocky Mountain state has grown steadily over the past year, with monthly sales near $60 million. All the while the medical industry has continued to function at a high level, though its sales have leveled off, averaging around $30 million per month.

In Colorado, as sales rise, prices drop, With grams in the Denver metro area are currently around $10. Outside the metro that same cannabis costs around $15. That being said, we’re looking at an average drop of around 7% statewide since the fall of 2015.

Despite an initial 37% recreational tax, Washington too has noticed a similar trend in both pricing and revenue with average retail sales around $62 million monthly. Gram prices, though currently at an average of $13 and dropping are still well above what some medical patients had been accustomed to paying.

Though Washington residents have dealt with some inconsistencies and changes in their cannabis purchasing routines, if Colorado’s example is to be followed, and it appears that it is, California’s medical and recreational buyers should feel a little more secure in their abilities to procure affordable, high quality marijuana in the coming years.

If you found this article informative and would like to stay up to date on other cannabis related topics, please sign up for our free newsletter by using the form to the right.

This article was published by CFN Enterprises Inc. (OTCQB: CNFN), owner and operator of CFN Media, the industry’s leading agency and digital financial media network dedicated to the burgeoning CBD and legal cannabis industries. Call +1 (833) 420-CNFN for more information.

About Jeremy Martin

Jeremy Martin is a Seattle-based writer reporting on coffee, craft beer, music, college sports, cannabis and business for a variety of publications. A competitive disc golfer and avid sandwich maker, he graduated from Western Michigan University in 2009. He and his wife are expecting their first child in July.

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