Marijuana prices plummet in Michigan. Customers are happy, farmers worried

Michigan’s marijuana prices hit all-time lows in January, which is great for retailers and customers but has smaller growers sounding alarms.

Record marijuana supply is driving down prices so much customers are buying it at record rates. There’s 55 times more pot on the market and people are purchasing it at 16 times the rate since marijuana hit the market two years ago, state records show.

Prices are now lower than they were 30 or 40 years ago when pot was illegal: The average price for an ounce, 28 grams, fell 70 percent to $152 in January from $516 in December 2019.

Some dispensaries in Kalamazoo are selling an ounce for as low as $50, while the average price for a gram in Michigan is $5, less than half the national average. 

“The buzzword right now about the market is growth, but I think we’re entering a stage where the prices and supply are meeting demand and it’s stabilizing,” said Andrew Brisbo, executive director of the Michigan Marijuana Regulatory Agency.

In all, Michigan has grown rapidly to become the fourth-largest marijuana market in the nation, with $1.8 billion in sales in 2021. Voters legalized recreational marijuana in November 2018, but it took the state another year to set up the licensing framework for sales. [Read more at Bridge Michigan]