Mania in Minnesota
[dropcap class=”kp-dropcap”]O[/dropcap]n July 1, 2015 medicinal cannabis became legal in the state of Minnesota, giving patients who suffer from cancer, Crohn’s disease, Glaucoma, AIDS and other maladies, an all-natural medicinal option. Unlike Colorado and California, who have legalized cannabis to the point where you can have it in any form imaginable, from live plants to candy bars to sexual lubricant, patients in Minnesota can only obtain cannabis legally from either Minnesota Medical Solutions or LeafLine Labs in the form of oils and pills.
This change has caused prices to go up, forcing patients to go back to the street for their medicine. To someone poor, a 20 percent increase in the cost of cannabis products is quite an economic hit when the additional price of paying for their medical care is factored into the equation. Although many of the patients in Minnesota qualify for a 10-25 percent discount, providing they are enrolled in the tightly controlled and harshly managed state-run program.
Dr. Kyle Kingsley, the CEO of Minnesota Medical Solutions, says, “[Cannabinoid oil] is really expensive to make, and most patients need an astronomical amount for it to be effective. We anticipated that both manufacturers would be making it,” Kingsley says. “So those things changed the finances for us pretty substantially.” Another problem is that the cost of processing cannabis products was supposed to be offset by the nearly 5,000 patients that state sponsors thought would sign up for the program, but within a year only 100 or so patients have been processed and registered.
Even Dr. Andrew Bachman, co-founder of LeafLine Labs, acknowledged that the law wasn’t that great, but made for a positive start. “Ideology does not change overnight. It’s important to start somewhere,” he said. But the fact remains that in states like California, where a gram can cost just $5, prices remain affordable in contrast to the price of cannabis in Minnesota, where a single pre-loaded cannabis vaporizer pen now costs nearly $70.
To their credit, Minnesota Medical Solutions is currently working on a pricing scaled based on income to aid patients who are poor. Under the proposed system, a person fare enough below the federal poverty level can qualify for up to 60 percent off the cost of their medicine. A majority of the patients in the state, however, still insist that cannabis from the street is still cheaper than the oils and pills that are the only legal option.
One patient living in the area, Joseph Caliguire, said, “The cost to produce those drugs are minimal,” referring to the expensive oils and pills doled out by the two companies in Minnesota. “Let’s be honest. One could grow their own and make their own oils at home for practically nothing, so the price gouging is illustrative of the amount of contempt both lawmakers and these corporate entities have for the patient. The entire program has been an absolute joke. It’s just like Big Pharma and Big Government to collude and manipulate the price of medicine,” Caliguire stated.
Another patient (who preferred to be called “Lee”) said, “Who is really surprised that the cost to potential patients is so high? With only two companies allowed to grow and distribute, and several lawmakers that pushed for the passage of the bill benefiting financially, it was set up from the beginning to be a highly profitable venture, protected by laws written by and for the sellers. As a terminally ill cancer patient myself, I had hopes of even mild improvement in pain management and increased appetite. Once again, corporate profit has trumped affordable medical care.”
The economic laws of supply and demand dictate that if everybody wants it (or needs it for medicinal purposes), the price goes up. If there is a scarcity of supply, the price goes higher, whether its oil, emeralds or cannabis. The two medical cannabis corporations calling the shots in Minnesota are only doing what’s natural to make a profit, regardless of the price patients must pay.
