Why the marijuana industry is failing in one simple chart

Do you want to know why the marijuana industry is failing? Just look at Maine, a relatively well-known East Coast state that sees massive systemic flaws in its medicinal cannabis program. Maine has lost more than 1,350 medical cannabis caregivers since 2021, and that’s just what caretakers admit in a survey.

Between late 2021 and late January 2023, more than 1350 nurses left the Maine Medical Use of Cannabis Program (MMCP), resulting in a net loss of over 800 nurses. This departure has had an impact on the remaining nurses, leading to several uncorroborated claims about the reasons for this trend and why nurses have still left the program.

In early 2023, the Office of Cannabis Policy (OCP) surveyed former caregivers to determine why many enrollers had left the program. Rather than relying on anecdotal evidence, the survey aimed to provide a more accurate understanding of the situation. The results showed that market and business conditions were the main reasons for program exits.

A clear setback

The reduction in medical cannabis caregivers amounted to 27.5% of the participants in the program. This decline was a significant setback for the program. Both insiders and outsiders have speculated as to the reasons for these changes.

The OCP aims to collect data and analyze the discussion while gaining a fuller understanding of the policy implications of the nursing program. To examine this issue more systematically, the OCP created a survey to analyze the reasons for nurses leaving the program.

A survey was conducted by emailing all caregivers who left the program between January 1, 2022 and January 31, 2023, successfully contacting 1339 people. Only 14 former caregivers did not have a valid email address on file. The OCP received responses from 117 former caregivers over several weeks, representing a response rate of 8.7%.

While survey responses were anonymous, respondents were able to provide their contact information at the end of the survey. This is the case if they agreed to be contacted by the OCP for possible future follow-up.

poll results

The OCP received responses from individuals who had previously engaged in authorized behaviors across six categories. The majority of respondents, namely 71.7%, were engaged in the cultivation of cannabis for direct sale or wholesale. This result is not surprising for two reasons: First, because these two activities are the most common among nurses in the program.

Second, the price of cannabis in the MMCP has fallen significantly due to the increase in production. Growers are more vulnerable to market effects, increasing the likelihood of participants from these groups leaving the MMCP. Therefore, it is reasonable to find a higher percentage of cultivators among the survey participants.

The OCP performed the design, implementation and internal data collection and analysis of the survey. As defined by the OCP, an individual is considered to have dropped out of the program if they have allowed their registration as a caregiver to expire, not renew it, or have voluntarily withdrawn. Survey responses were collected between February 17, 2023 and March 17, 2023.

Among former caregivers, the top five responses were as follows:

• An oversupply of products leading to lower prices,

• business expenses

• operating cost

• Bank Charges and Regulations

• competition with the leisure market.

The combined responses to these five factors accounted for 54.5% of the total of 424 responses received. Of the 117 respondents, 68 (58.1%) chose product oversupply leading to lower prices as one of their top five problems. In contrast, 57 (48.7%) chose incidental expenses as one of their top five reasons for leaving the program.

These findings stand in sharp contrast to the speculation and rumor as to what has transpired within the MMCP. Some uncorroborated claims focus on maintainers’ dissatisfaction with the OCP’s program policy. The data shows that a significantly smaller number of people hold this perspective. Only 16 (13.7%) of respondents cited OCP’s registration fees as one of their top five reasons for leaving the program. Likewise, only 15 (12.8%) of respondents cited OCP’s charter and regulations as one of their top five reasons. These two answers together accounted for only 7.3% of all answers.

Feedback from former maintainers

The survey had an open section where former caregivers could provide their reasons for leaving. This offers the advantage of hearing from a variety of opinions outside of the usual opinions that lawmakers hear from the medical community. While the voices of medical patients and caregivers are vital, the OCP also values ​​the contribution of individuals in the medical industry who may need to speak up on public platforms. Some former caregivers have expressed a wish for more interest in participating in such discussions.

Some respondents have reported that they, or people they know, have faced harassment or economic and physical intimidation and are unwilling to speak publicly. As a result, they have expressed disinterest in participating in public platforms. OCP staff frequently receive comments and concerns from program participants for medical purposes and adults who prefer to remain anonymous.

The purpose of the survey was to provide a space for ex-caregivers to voice their thoughts without revealing their identity, even to OCP. This process allowed for raw feedback, including some critical comments about OCP. However, the criticism was not only aimed at the government. Five key problem areas emerged, consistent with responses to the survey questions: lack of profit/overproduction, out-of-state companies and funds, the success of the leisure market, bias towards giant corporations, and lack of cooperation from caregivers/illegal operations. It is worth noting that some respondents provided answers that addressed issues in multiple categories.

A worrying finding from some of the responses was that some respondents were willing to engage in illegal activities. For example, one respondent stated, “The industry is not profitable. I’d rather sell weed on the street. At least I’d be making 7.25/hour.” Another respondent stated, “I’d rather sell it illegally and make money than pay for not even being able to open a shop.”

One eyebrow-raising reason MMJ vendors cited in the survey was cannabis being imported from other states, leading to an oversupply problem. This should baffle the industry since Maine borders the Atlantic Ocean, New Hampshire and Massachusetts. Maine is a very poor state if you leave the ocean and a few lakes, so the fact that out of state cannabis is finding its way into Maine and undercutting its black market prices is shocking and should be a wake-up call for the US cannabis industry. If Maine has problems with cannabis outside of the states, and inexpensive options already exist within the state lines, how “cheap” is cheap in the cannabis industry right now?

If you read Cananbis.net’s analysis of black market prices versus legal market prices, you will see that some products are already 95% cheaper on the black market. How can a low cost state like Maine be “underpriced” by weed from other states? This shows that the bottoms are lower than most analysts are currently assuming.

Diploma

Ultimately, the survey of ex-caregivers provides essential insight and a broader understanding of the stresses faced by MMCP operators. The main factors in nurses’ decision to leave the program are related to market and business conditions. The clear oversupply of cannabis and the associated drop in prices had a devastating effect, especially with the rising energy costs during departure.

This finding contradicts other speculation about the reasons for supervisors leaving the program, such as overly strict government regulations or high application fees.

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IS THE BLACK MARKET ________ CHEAPER THAN THE LEGAL CANNABIS MARKET?