By Monterey Bud
Profitability remains elusive in one of the most restrictive medical marijuana programs in the United States. In an effort to stop the proverbial bleeding, MinnMed, a.k.a. Minnesota Medical Solutions, recently announced plans to roll out a more attractive price structure for Minnesota’s medical marijuana community.
According to online reports:
“Minnesota Medical Solutions, also known as MinnMed, is reducing the prices of more than two dozen medical cannabis products, some of which will be reduced by more than 50 percent, according to company officials.”
Initially germinated with $20 million in capital, Vireo Health, the parent company of Minnesota Medical Solutions, lost $542,000 in 2014 and $3 million in 2015. Proving a potential threat to the viability of Minnesota’s medical marijuana program, some critics of the tightly regulated system view MinnMed’s financial struggle as ann ominous sign of things to come.
Legal but scarcely accessible, MinnMed’s financial woes demonstrate the difficult nature of successfully operating a profitable business in one of the country’s most strictly regulated programs. Now loaded with anxiety and trepidation rather than unfettered access to the medicinal plant’s valuable cannabinoids, more than a few advocates fear Minnesota’s MMJ program is not long for this world.
Only allowing non-smokable forms of medicinal products for their patients who qualify, Minnesota’s medical marijuana law also disallows home cultivation, reciprocity with other like-minded states, and is restricted to just a handful of qualifying conditions.
Hoping to cultivate new patients for Minnesota’s medical marijuana program, Vireo Health noted:
“The cheaper ‘starter packages’ will allow first-time patients to try medical marijuana at an affordable rate to see if it helps their conditions.”
With approximately 1,550 Minnesota medical marijuana patients currently approved statewide, participation in the state program has underperformed according to MinnMed’s original projections.
Providing a viable alternative to many of today’s addictive pharmaceuticals and other toxic medications, MinnMed is hoping to cultivate a whole new crop of patients for Minnesota’s medical marijuana program with their recently announced price cuts.
