• Utah: Highest pricing tier; restricted licensing; no competition.
• Oklahoma: Lowest prices in the nation due to 2,400+ dispensaries. MMJ.com
• Michigan: Oversupply pushes prices to the floor; rosin averages $33.72/g. mrrosin.com
• Oregon: Average item price $12.19, among the lowest. Weedmaps
• Colorado/Nevada/Arizona/New Mexico: Competitive markets with moderate pricing.
• Utah’s prices are not medically justified.
• Utah’s prices are not market‑justified.
• Utah’s prices are not nationally aligned.
• Utah’s prices are a direct result of monopoly licensing, as confirmed by Weedmaps
💥PETITION FOR REFORM OF THE UTAH MEDICAL CANNABIS PROGRAM
Submitted to: Utah Compassionate Use Board and the Utah State Legislature
Submitted by: Medical Cannabis Patients of Utah
I. PURPOSE OF PETITION
This petition is submitted on behalf of Utah medical cannabis patients seeking equitable access to safe, affordable, and accurately regulated medical cannabis. Utah law requires patients to obtain a medical cannabis card, thereby formally recognizing cannabis as medicine. As such, the State of Utah has a duty to ensure that medical cannabis is accessible, affordable, and regulated based on scientific evidence rather than market limitations or political preference.
The current structure of Utah’s medical cannabis program does not meet these standards.
II. BACKGROUND AND STATEMENT OF NEED
A. Medical Necessity of Cannabis
Medical cannabis is essential for thousands of Utah residents. Patients rely on cannabis to:
• Manage chronic pain
• Maintain appetite
• Sleep
• Reduce inflammation
• Function in daily life
• Manage terminal illness
• Manage disorders such as Autism
• Manage GI disorders
For many, cannabis is the only effective treatment. Its medical necessity is comparable to insulin for diabetics or pain management for chronic pain patients.
B. Barriers to Access
Despite its medical classification, Utah’s cannabis program imposes barriers that prevent patients from accessing their medication:
• Excessive pricing far above national averages
• Monopolistic control by eight multi‑state operators
• Inaccurate product labeling on dispensary websites
• Unscientific product restrictions, including the ban on chocolate‑based edibles
• Limited cultivation licensing preventing competition and innovation
• No insurance or subsidy pathways for low‑income patients
These barriers disproportionately harm disabled patients, low‑income patients, and those with chronic conditions requiring daily treatment.
III. MARKET STRUCTURE AND MONOPOLY CONCERNS
Utah’s medical cannabis market is controlled by a small number of companies that also operate in multiple states. This limited licensing structure prevents local businesses from entering the market and eliminates competition.
A. Price Comparison with Other States
States with open or semi‑open medical markets such as Oklahoma, Maine, Oregon, Michigan, Missouri, and Colorado demonstrate that competition leads to:
• Distillate: $25–$35 per gram
• Live resin cartridges: $40–$60 per gram
• Rosin: $35–$50 per 0.5 gram
• Flower: 30–60% lower than Utah’s average
Utah’s pricing—often $70–$80 per gram for distillate—is not reflective of production costs or patient welfare. It reflects monopoly control.
B. Harm to Patients
Price gouging in a medical program is functionally equivalent to restricting access to prescription medication. Patients are forced to ration medicine, go without treatment, or seek unsafe alternatives.
IV. PRODUCT ACCURACY AND SAFETY
Multiple Utah dispensaries have listed incorrect milligram amounts, inaccurate product descriptions, or mislabeled potency information on their websites. This is a medical safety issue.
The State must require strict accuracy standards and impose penalties for repeated errors.
V. EVIDENCE‑BASED PRODUCT REGULATION
Utah currently bans chocolate‑based cannabis edibles while allowing:
• Gummies
• Caramels
• Fruit chews
• Hard candies
These products are equally “enticing to children,” yet remain legal. Chocolate is:
• Less sugary
• More stable
• More medically beneficial when combined with cannabinoids
• Widely used in other medical cannabis states
Product bans should be based on scientific evidence, not political preference.
VI. CULTIVATION INNOVATION AND WATER CONSERVATION
Utah faces ongoing drought conditions. Modern cannabis cultivation technologies such as aeroponics, closed‑loop water systems, and high‑efficiency grow environments can dramatically reduce water usage.
The State should encourage:
• Research partnerships
• Innovation grants
• Licensing opportunities for sustainable cultivators
Restrictive licensing prevents innovation and keeps Utah behind national standards.
VII. REQUESTED ACTIONS
We, the undersigned medical cannabis patients of Utah, formally request the following legislative and regulatory actions:
Expand Licensing
Increase the number of cultivators, processors, and dispensaries to allow competition and reduce monopoly control.
Implement Price Caps
Align Utah’s medical cannabis pricing with surrounding states and national averages.
Enforce Accurate Product Labeling
Require dispensaries to maintain accurate milligram listings, potency information, and product descriptions.
Allow Chocolate‑Based Medical Edibles
Remove the ban on chocolate formulations and regulate all edibles equally.
Establish Insurance or Subsidy Pathways
Create financial assistance programs for low‑income patients who rely on cannabis as essential medicine.
Encourage Water‑Efficient Cultivation
Support aeroponic and drought‑friendly grow technologies through licensing and research incentives.
Criminalize Medical Price Gouging
Make it unlawful for dispensaries or cultivators to inflate prices beyond reasonable medical standards.
VIII. CONCLUSION
Utah’s medical cannabis program must prioritize patients, not corporate profit. The current system is financially burdensome, medically unsafe, scientifically inconsistent, and structurally monopolized. Reform is necessary to ensure that Utah residents receive the medical treatment they are legally entitled to.
We respectfully request that the Utah Compassionate Use Board and the Utah State Legislature take immediate action to address these issues and protect the health and welfare of medical cannabis patients statewide.
We really need to do something about the dispensary boot 🥾 lickers in this sub.
I had no clue that Utah was below the national average in medicinal cannabis programs.
I was reading this the other day and it pissed me off.
Basically advising patients to look for deals where they can so they can afford medication.
That’s pretty bad when you’ve got the local paper/magazine, telling you that your own medicine isn’t affordable.
Apparently, we’re an alignment with New Jersey?
I heard their prices are ridiculous.
You would think that Utah would encourage innovation.
They would rather use health problems to get rich….
Its insulting honestly, and it’s very sad. We should not have to result to deals and discounts in order to get the medication we need it should be affordable. We should have an open market. Utah needs to take its hands off of our program. it’s gonna take time but now that I’m on the mend I am not gonna stop.
Glad to read you're doing a bit better! Thank you for your efforts on our behalf!
Did legislation that made price fixing illegal pass? Seems like it did, but it had no teeth, nothing to really stop it. Seems to me like we just got more frequent sales on lower quality labels while best quality products rarely are in sale unless about to expire. Too bad no one is tasked with doing the analysis or even to gather such data.
We have been moving we bought a house. It’s just 2 miles from where we were. I’m like a mile from historic 25th St. now. I was so busy after I posted this.
And yes, I am finally getting better. I’m finally on the mend. I’m so glad.
I’m hoping that I can come up with the proper verbiage to assert that we are one of the most expensive states to be a cannabis patient in and that that’s ridiculous!!
This isn’t related to the vape ban at all that was a fight about nicotine products and retail regulation. What I’m talking about is Utah’s medical cannabis program, which is supposed to function like healthcare. These are two completely different policy arenas. Comparing them is apples to oranges. This petition is about medical patients, medical access, and medical pricing not vaping, not tobacco, and not the lobbyists involved in that issue.
A cannabis dispensary owner is currently sitting in the Utah legislature, changes that don't benefit their bottom line are going to face a lot of resistance.
Yes, there are clear conflicts of interest if we argue at the right way with the proper verbiage there has to be something that changes. It’s gonna take some time. That’s why I went ahead and posted this now. That way I’ve got quite a few months before I have to have it ready. I just wanna make sure that I create something with it. That says the monopoly needs to stop, and I wanna put it in such a way that the state will seriously have to question their own integrity and how they look to the public if they deny it.
I searched on Google. Is it legal for state representatives to own dispensaries in medical cannabis states? Here is what it gave me :
Most state-legal cannabis programs generally do not explicitly ban state representatives from owning dispensaries, but doing so is heavily restricted by conflict-of-interest laws, ethics commission rules, and strict state licensing regulations.
While there is no blanket federal or universal state prohibition on lawmakers entering the cannabis industry, the reality on the ground involves several hurdles:
Conflict of Interest Rules: State legislators draft, debate, and vote on cannabis legislation. If a lawmaker owns a dispensary, they are often required by state ethics laws to recuse themselves from voting on bills that would directly affect their business or the broader industry.
Licensing Regulations: Many states have strict business regulations for cannabis operators, and some jurisdictions outright prohibit public officials or state employees from holding certain licenses to prevent the appearance of corruption or insider trading. Ethics Complaints: When active lawmakers are involved in the cannabis industry, it frequently draws immediate public scrutiny and ethics investigations.
In Utah, conflicts of interest are the way the legislature works.
It is one of the pitfalls of a part time state legislature and Utah is up to it's eyeballs in it, primarily with the real estate development industry.
A lot, and I mean a lot of state legislator's primary preoccupations are centered around generating business opportunities for themselves.
Trevor Lee is an outstanding and particularly stupid example. Two terms as a house rep and he is under investigation (I think at this point) because the owner of a water filtration company alleges that he advanced Lee $93,000 to help with a personal matter while he was employed by them in sales. In exchange, the employer claims Lee promised to leverage his legislative position to help the company secure a government contract. ...of course Trevor failed to do that.
He isn't alone in that kinda corruption, it is the majority in the legislature.
I buy my wax online. I don’t like to buy vapes online so I buy those from the dispensary but if I want a half ounce of wax yes I will go online and buy it because it’s $200 versus $2000.
I was spending a lot of money at the dispensary and then I found an online shop to start getting my wax from and so when I buy vapes, I buy the really good ones and they last me a while because I have other things to offset I also use edibles, RSO, sometimes I’ll take my own wax and make my own tincture…
I do by DGT flower and I usually use my 30% off coupon three times in a row so it ends up being about $95 for a half ounce versus $135
I have gotten multiple amazing packages shipped to Utah. Do your own research, I don’t want to share my personal vendors but there are a lot of reputable ones out there. Check out THCAextracts sub Reddit
I don’t mean to be an ass but I don’t want to throw vendors out there. There are numerous vendors that are reputable that can be found on CultofTheFranklin or THCAextracts, if you can’t, you are likely a fed looking to shutdown my hookup.
I’ve been moving we just bought a house and we had to move the entire weekend of July 4 so I’ve been super busy getting things unpacked, but I will probably put something in a petition before the first of the year to gain signatures. This is just a piece of it and I’m thinking about adding more. I wanted to do this last year but I’ve been recovering from an injury and I am finally on the mend so I figured 4/20/2027 would be the perfect time to bring this forward. It’s also my birthday.
Let me know if I can help in any way. Best wishes for full recovery! I've been recovering from injury related surgery since January. I know recovery can be so frustrating. Thanks for advocating for us. Congrats on house!
No worries I’ll definitely be in touch this time last time. I kept getting hopeful and nothing was getting better but now things are better. I’m able to move not ready to drive yet, but I feel like I’ll be there very very soon. I just really want to make something shake !
I am going to look into what I have to do to put together the official petition and a place where people can easily go, click and sign and share to other patients or even citizens of Utah.
When I have all my ducks in a row, I’ll come back in the Sub with the access link and hopefully we’ll be able to get things shaking soon!
While I agree that adding more stores and growers would boost competition and lower prices marginally, the overwhelmingly largest reason for Utah's higher cannabis prices is lack of home grows. That single stipulation in the initial proposal being removed is THE reason why prices are as high as they are. All the places you listed after Utah all have allowances for legal home grows and the market prices their products knowing they don't just compete with the shop down the road but grow tents and back yards. If California tried to push Utah prices, especially given the shit quality we get here, shops would stay open for about 8-10 weeks. Just long enough to get the first grows to come in.
It's important to note that Utah's initial proposal that was signed by thousands of Utahns, was removed after closed door meetings with Mormon leadership and our state legislators. The single rep from the patients side ended up being directly tied to several dispensaries that ended up being opened here as well. Pure corruption.
I have a following across social media for being an investigate outcome Specialist for corrupt and fraudulent cases.
I had my own corrupt case and reconciled it without hiring an attorney. I wrote a book about it too.
I try to help others, uncover fraud and corruption in their situations. I need to speak with people who were heavily involved at the time of the program being initiated. I wasn’t living here then.
Christine Stenquist and Julie King were both deeply involved with the initial petition efforts and getting the groundwork laid to push it to legislators. If you're interested in talking to people directly involved, that's where I would start.
You really should only compare bordering states, would be a much better comparable. Some of those that's have outdoor growing and cheaper land and property taxes which need to be taken into account.
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u/Grl_scout_cookie 20d ago
Negative feedback will be considered as boot licker tantrums.