Medical marijuana businesses fear added costs drive prices for patients

TULSA, okla. – Tulsa attorney Ronald Durbin sat down with Dr. Z Leaf teamed up and reported thousands of other medical marijuana companies to file a lawsuit against the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority. You are frustrated with OMMA’s new partnership with the seed-to-sale system Metrc.

“You already have our money,” said Durbin. “If that’s what you want so badly, use the money you have and pay for it.”

Durbin refers to an annual fee of $ 2,500. All around 10,500 medical cannabis companies have to renew their licenses. However, as part of its contract with Metrc, the state requires each company to pay $ 40 per month to access the program’s software system.

The Florida-based company also requires $ 0.45 for an RFID tag that is tied to each asset. An additional $ 0.25 label packaging cost will also be added.

“It makes absolutely no sense,” said Durbin.

Tony Rodriguez, owner of Harvest Health, told 2 Works for You that the additional day cost is an estimated $ 11,000 to $ 13,000 for his annual budget. He fears the only way to come back is to raise prices for patients.

“It shouldn’t be like that,” said Rodriguez. “Everyone is competitive. Everyone is lowering their price. To add those additional costs, I have to pass that on to the consumer and I don’t want to have to do that.”

Rep. Scott Fetgatter, of Okmulgee, Oklahoma, said he did not believe an obligation for companies to use Metrc was within state law.

He worries that any progress made this term to crack down on the industry’s black market could suffer a blow as a result of this lawsuit.

“I think it may slow the enforcement side of what needs to happen in our state, but this is between the industry, OMMA and Metrc to find out,” said Fetgatter.

An OMMA spokesperson replied to 2 Works for You when asked for an interview: “We do not comment on pending litigation.”

Trend stories:

Stay in contact with us anytime, anywhere –