Cannabis Report Card - July 2021
Each month, the Utah Bee grades different aspects of Utah’s medical cannabis system. This month the Utah Bee grades black market dealers in Utah, awarding the group an A+ for consistently delivering on otherwise empty promises of Utah’s official medical cannabis program.
The Utah Bee believes that a medical cannabis program must provide patients access to high-quality, affordable cannabis. The official Utah program fails to do this, because lawmakers do not share the same goal. Rather, the purpose of Utah’s official system is to fulfill the desires of the Mormon Church to keep cannabis use as minimal as possible in the Beehive State. Thus, after losing at the ballot box, lawmakers created a miserly program that intentionally imposes prohibitive access and cost burdens on patients. The official program caters to industry and wealthier patients.
For everyone else, black market dealers fill the void. The people’s initiative removed the stigma around cannabis. Currently, the Utah Capitol is the only part of the State located in a cannabis-free bubble. The rest of Utah is located in the wild West, where cannabis grows like a weed. Matching supply with demand, dealers constitute the backbone of the Utah cannabis system, moving tons of supply from Oregon, California, and Colorado, to meet Utah demand ignored by the official program.
To prepare this report card, the Utah Bee researched current dispensary prices for flower cannabis. The Bee also contacted black market dealers and patients throughout the State, to determine black market prices. On average, dealers are providing high-quality cannabis to Utah patients at one-half to one-third the price of the official system. Patients report some initial difficulties matching with a reliable dealer. Once a match is made, however, patients report that dealers provide improved choice and convenience, to accompany the improved pricing.
Based on much better affordability, improved choice, and added convenience, black market dealers score an A-plus on July’s cannabis report card.