MedPharm Iowa dispensary receipt, version 2021 — 68% of Iowa Patients can’t afford these prices yet

The honest truth about Iowa’s marijuana prices for end user consumers is this: while comparable to other states, the black market is drastically cheaper. How much cheaper? You can buy four times as much marijuana if you do it illegally instead of using Iowa’s program.

Here’s an example of a receipt from a recent purchase at one of Iowa’s marijuana shops:

Thousands of Iowans choose to use the legal marijuana in Iowa, due to safety concerns and legal concerns, but if prices were more competitive with the black market, Iowa would quadruple it’s number of patients, according to this Iowa Public Radio interview WeedPress was invited to, where a leading legislator said he estimates Iowa’s statewide elderly population is around 20,000 medical marijuana patients. According to this October 31 data from the IDPH, Iowa only currently has 7,323 cannabis cardholders, meaning due in part to these higher prices, 13,677 Iowans who would otherwise use medical cannabis at dispensaries are going unserved.

To state this more concisely, an estimated 68.4% of Iowans needing medical cannabis are not able to afford access to Iowa’s medical cannabis program in 2021. That’s more than 2 out of 3 seriously sick Iowans who need access to medical marijuana and are unable to afford it due to ongoing problems with federal law, state restrictions, and proximity to dispensaries.

For many Iowans in 2021, marijuana stores are over 2 hours away from their house, and Iowans who cannot travel for extended periods of time due to medical conditions are further prevented from using marijuana by these uncompetitive prices. The fault for high prices lies solely with lawmakers, not the companies losing millions of dollars to provide Iowans with cannabis. Write your representatives if you want to change this marijuana program and make it more affordable — don’t blame the companies who didn’t write these bills in the first place.

Another issue is that police officers, EMT’s, firefighters and other first responders are unable to treat PTSD due to Iowa dropping the ball on fixing federal law, a responsibility that is in the state of Iowa’s hands and cannot be scapegoated to Congress or any federal agency. Iowa politicians would apparently prefer to neglect this responsibility, and that affects patient cardholder numbers, and the future of Iowa’s marijuana industry, as well.

There’s still some good news. Prices for marijuana in Iowa have nowhere to go but down. As more patients access the program, prices will go down, and, while it will likely never happen, if Iowans work together and lobby professionally (as opposed to idiotic potheads as they have done for 30 years in Iowa) then the program will improve. Education, and public support for marijuana in Iowa, is there. The only missing link and variable is activating the populace to push for medical marijuana. Until Iowa activist leadership stops fighting each other, and trying to be criminal outlaws/rebels smuggling illegal marijuana throughout Iowa (cough cough, Legalize Iowa group members) then nobody is going to get any legal marijuana improvements in the near future. Iowa’s weed movement is absolutely the biggest obstacle to legalizing marijuana. That objectively accurate truth is hideously ugly, when you consider the impact it has on the innocent patients. For shame, Iowa marijuana movement leadership. For shame. This is a conversation nobody wants to have yet. It will have to be addressed however before we succeed at getting our civil rights as marijuana users fully enforced.

Like I said…good news. I didn’t say you’d prefer it, but, it is what it is. Iowa has some trash to take out before access to marijuana becomes a bigger possibility. I’m specifically referring to the saboteurs at Legalize Iowa. Anytime anyone tried to organize people, Legalize Iowa would accuse them of being feds, because Legalize Iowa is more concerned with protecting law breakers and preventing honest people from working together than fixing the laws in Iowa, and, that’s why we can’t have nice things.

Stay informed. Fight fake news and misinformation and follow WeedPress on Facebook. We’ll be here commenting for years to come as we work strenuously to expand access to marijuana for everyone who desires to partake in God’s dumpster pile of chemical wasted lands and slaves tied to federal subsidies.

Is Iowa heaven? Not for marijuana users. Or any minority, for that matter.