Florida’s major cannabis multistate operators have seemingly abandoned the production of CBD and low-THC products which are often favored by patients seeking therapeutic benefits without the psychoactive effects.
DocMJ has compiled a full report using the Florida Office of Medical Marijuana Use’s weekly data, which can be found here, to capture this significant shift that has shown a dramatic change since Amendment 3 was added to the November ballot. DocMJ found that Trulieve’s production of low-THC products dropped by 98.92%, plummeting from 538,310 mg to just 5,832 mg in a mere five months, between April 5 and Oct. 25.
Other major producers have followed suit: MÜV reduced production by 95.99%, Ayr Wellness by 99.97%, Curaleaf by 99.98%, and Sunnyside by 100%.
Aaron Bloom, CEO of DocMJ, said that the MSOs are preparing for the approval of adult-use cannabis and want to be able to sell those products the moment they are able.
“It’s the high-THC products that are the most profitable and the ones that the recreational users will be looking for,” Bloom said.
The problem is that the current market of medical patients is running out of options for the products they prefer – low-THC products with high CBD levels. Bloom said patients have told him stories of going to three different dispensaries and being unable to find the medicine they need.
Bloom pointed out that the money funding the campaign for adult-use legalization is coming from the very patients that the MSOs are now shunning. He also noted that many of the newer operators in the state haven’t even bothered to sell medical marijuana in their stores.
“Trulieve and Surterra Wellness, they’ve been here since 2016 and 2017 and have been medical marijuana dispensaries from the beginning,” Bloom said.
Newer dispensaries don’t even pretend to be medical operations, he said, even though that’s their technical designation under state law unless Amendment 3 is victorious.
“They rotate new products in these dispensaries each week, which is fun,” said Bloom. “But medical patients want to go back every week and buy what works for them.”
If the law isn’t supported by a 60% super-majority of voters, then Florida will remain a medical-only state, but the question then becomes whether the MSOs will return to a medical focus with their products? Or will they continue to cater to recreational users under the guise of being medically-oriented?
It would take months to create a new crop of these products, and it doesn’t look like the MSOs care about the medical patients now as it is.
“Obviously nobody’s coming to Florida as a tourist and demanding CBD products,” Bloom lamented.
The cannabis operators start by touting medical marijuana and all the good it does for people as patients, but they only do so to get the public comfortable with cannabis, Bloom concluded. Once the social stigma passes, they quickly jump to adult-use cannabis and leave medical patients high and dry.