DHHS Discusses Medical Cannabis Market
The Utah Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) held a “Medical Cannabis Market Analysis Public Input Meeting” last Thursday (Sept.1). The purpose of the meeting was for DHHS to review and share factors about Utah’s medical cannabis program that it will consider in determining whether additional dispensaries should be made available. UCA Code 26-61a-305 (1)(d) requires that the DHHS complete an "annual or more frequent analysis of the current and anticipated market for medical cannabis ..." The meeting was a hybrid (in-person and virtual access) public meeting. Presenting at the meeting were Rich Osborn, Director of the Center for Medical Cannabis at the Utah Department of Health and Brandon Forsyth from the Utah Department of Agriculture.
Factors to Consider
In their presentation, DHHS laid out five factors they consider in their market analysis. These are:
1) High potential for growth in the number of medical cannabis card holders located in
one or more regions.
2) Access to medical cannabis home delivery service in the state or in certain economic
regions.
3) Commuting patterns and economic activity in specific regions.
4) Distance for medical cannabis patients or potential medical cannabis patients residing in certain economic regions of the state from their home to the nearest medical cannabis pharmacy location.
5) The inadequate supply, quality, or variety of medical cannabis
6) Other factors.
Ironically, the factor that received the most attention and questions from the public (Factor 5) was “to be discussed at a future meeting,” as stated in their slide show. It is not clear when this will be.
Cardholder Growth
In terms of cardholder growth, there are currently around 56 thousand cardholders in the state (1.7% of the total state population). Of the 12 medical cannabis states with similar programs, the average is 1.5%. It was not explained what is meant by “similar programs,” but of those 12 other states, Utah ranks 5th in highest percentage of cardholders to total population. Finally, if the current growth trend continues, it is predicted there would be 90 thousand cardholders by end of July 2023 (2.8% of state total population).
Patient Purchases Rates
In terms of patient purchase rates, of the 56 thousand patients in the program, about 29 thousand patients make between 3 and 5 purchases per month. In August 2022, 58% of patients made at least 1 purchase, whereas 21% made 3 or more purchases. In the combined months of June, July, and August this year, 81% of patients made 3 or more purchases and 14% made 10 or more purchases.
Economic Regions
When looking at the economic regions of the state, the Greater Salt Lake region had the highest percentage of the medical cannabis patients in the state at a whopping 90.5% of total; whereas the Southwest region only had 5.71% of total and the Southeast region had a mere 0.15% of the total.
Access to Delivery
Similarly, when looking at Factor 2 (Access to Delivery) patients in Southwest & Southeast regions have the least or no access to medical cannabis delivery. Patients in Uintah Basin & West Central regions have moderate access to medical cannabis delivery, and patients in Greater Salt Lake region have the most access to medical cannabis pharmacy delivery.
Distance to Dispensaries
Finally, when looking at average distance to the nearest dispensary (Factor 4) the Southeast region has the longest average distance to the nearest dispensary at 110 miles; whereas the Greater Salt Lake, East Central, and Southwest regions have the shortest average distance to the nearest dispensary.
Other Factors
When looking at other factors such as the ratio of retail locations to the total state population, of the 17 states with medical-only programs, Utah ranks 13th in lowest ratio of retail location to total population with a ratio of 1 retail location for every 238,427 residents. By comparison, Oklahoma ranks first with 1 retail location for every 1,674 residents; South Dakota ranks second with 1 retail location for every 9,948 residents; and Florida has the highest ratio with 1 retail location for every 990,051 residents.
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In terms of ratio of retail locations to total state square miles, Utah ranks 14th (of 17) in lowest ratio of retail locations to square total state mileage with a ratio of 1 retail location for every 6,064 square miles. By contrast, Oklahoma ranks first with 1 retail location for every 29 square miles; Maryland ranks second with 1 retail location for every 118 square miles; and Iowa ranks last with 1 retail location for every 11,255 square miles.
Public Comments
Following the slide show presentation, discussion was opened up to the public for those in attendance and online. It was during this time the discussion became very heated and emotional for some.
Christine Stenquist (president and founder of TRUCE) was in attendance and thanked DHHS for the presentation but expressed frustrations that the state’s medical cannabis program is not growing to scale, meaning the number of plants growers are allowed to produce versus how many they’re growing. According to Stenquist, even though the state has expanded the square footage, growers have not reached capacity, which creates inconsistency in the market and false scarcity. This practice is keeping prices high—essentially a form of price gouging. In addition, Christine pointed out how the rural counties are not being served adequately and how the QMP program with patient caps is a financial barrier for many, and why numerous patients are leaving the program.
Clinton Young from Vernal expressed similar concerns about accessibility, stating the lack of QMPs in his area, and how he would have to travel over 150 miles to the nearest dispensary, making it impractical if not impossible to get the medicine he needs. Not surprisingly, he said this is why people in his area can more easily just drive across the border to Colorado to get their meds.
Drew Reese (TRUCE) who is both a cancer patient and veteran said more reliability and consistency is needed in the program. He would like to see more sativa-dominant strains in the dispensaries because the indica-dominant strains make him tired and less productive.
Even though the meeting was scheduled for two hours, it ended after about 1 hour 15 minutes. In fact, Rich Osborn would have ended the meeting even earlier had Drew Reece not pointed out this was a public meeting and the purpose was to get the public’s input on the matter. Unfortunately, Rich seemed eager to end the discussion, continually stating that this meeting would only focus on the five factors discussed and not on the most obvious and pressing issues with the program—cost and accessibility.
More information about the meeting can be found here.
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