(NewsNation) — A national cannabis surplus has turned the longtime dream of American marijuana users into one bad trip for those in the industry.
While legal weed may seem like a way to make some easy green, the reality is far less promising than you might expect.
It’s been nearly 10 years since Colorado and Washington became the first states to legalize recreational cannabis for adult use, but in the near decade since recreational pot first got the green light, the budding industry has gone from boom to bust thanks to a glut of ganja.
Cannabis prices have taken a nosedive across the U.S. thanks to a national surplus. Cannabis data company BDSA says a pound of cannabis costs 36% less in Massachusetts and 46% less in Missouri today than they both did back in 2021. Prices in Colorado dropped by 51% over the last few years, and in Michigan, pot costs nearly 75% less than it did in 2020.
The market drop is extinguishing profits and leaving pot farmers high and dry. Cannabis farmers all along the West Coast, once the powerhouse of America’s cannabis production, are also seeing their operations go up in smoke.
That’s because any surplus pot harvested is a waste, because legally it is unable to cross state lines thanks to the federal ban on cannabis use.
In February, regulators in Oregon said pot businesses were sitting on around three million pounds of unused cannabis flower and nearly an additional 75,000 pounds of cannabis concentrates and extracts.
Meanwhile, growers in California are burning out of the industry altogether. This year alone, the Golden State lost more than 1,700 cannabis farming licenses, forcing industry leaders to issue a blunt warning for would-be cannabis growers.
“It’s a lot more difficult than you might think to to make a profit in cannabis,” said Truman Bradley, executive director of the Marijuana Industry Group. “The situation is different for states that have just legalized. There, right now, demand exceeds supply. I call that the good times. I tell people, Colorado is the ghost of Christmas future.”
It’s not just mom and pop growers who are feeling the burn as the cannabis industry goes through these growing pains. Curaleaf, a Canadian firm which does business in 21 states across the U.S., has shut down most of its growing operations in California, Colorado and Oregon.
Medmen, once considered the “Apple Store of weed,” is dealing with millions in unpaid bills and Oregon’s top marijuana regulator recently warned the industry as a whole is facing an existential crisis.
