Producer to help patients light up by cutting price-tag to just $5 a gram
Patients will be able to light up without burning a hole in their pockets after a medical marijuana producer took the decision to slash its prices across Canada.
Bedrocan will reduce the cost of six medical cannabis strains from the previous high of $7.50 to just $5 a gram. Despite the 33 per cent reduction, however, the company believes that it will still be able to make a profit.
“We’re very good at producing cannabis at a low cost,” commented Marc Wayne, the president of Bedrocan.
“After spending the last six months perfecting production techniques in Canada from our Dutch partners in Holland, we now have the ability to reduce our cost.”
Bruce Linton, the CEO of Canopy Growth Corporation, believes that the drug had previously been too expensive for many patients because of the fact that most insurance plans will not cover medical marijuana, plus a prohibitive sales tax.
“This is medicine and should be treated as such,” said Linton. “That means there shouldn’t be a sales tax on this that you wouldn’t expect to pay on any other medicinal product.”
Dundee Capital Markets analyst Aaron Salz says it costs the average consumer of medical cannabis between $1,400 and $2,800 a year to access the drug. That’s based on consumption of 0.5 to one gram per day at an average cost of $7.50 per gram.
“We know of a peer that dropped pricing once and saw a material uptick in demand, showing that patients are price elastic,” he said.
“The tactic is both strategic in attracting patients with competitive pricing and ethical in that it sends a message to regulators to act on insurance coverage and other affordability measures.”
Bedrocan will reduce the cost of six medical cannabis strains from the previous high of $7.50 to just $5 a gram. Despite the 33 per cent reduction, however, the company believes that it will still be able to make a profit.
“We’re very good at producing cannabis at a low cost,” commented Marc Wayne, the president of Bedrocan.
“After spending the last six months perfecting production techniques in Canada from our Dutch partners in Holland, we now have the ability to reduce our cost.”
Bruce Linton, the CEO of Canopy Growth Corporation, believes that the drug had previously been too expensive for many patients because of the fact that most insurance plans will not cover medical marijuana, plus a prohibitive sales tax.
“This is medicine and should be treated as such,” said Linton. “That means there shouldn’t be a sales tax on this that you wouldn’t expect to pay on any other medicinal product.”
Dundee Capital Markets analyst Aaron Salz says it costs the average consumer of medical cannabis between $1,400 and $2,800 a year to access the drug. That’s based on consumption of 0.5 to one gram per day at an average cost of $7.50 per gram.
“We know of a peer that dropped pricing once and saw a material uptick in demand, showing that patients are price elastic,” he said.
“The tactic is both strategic in attracting patients with competitive pricing and ethical in that it sends a message to regulators to act on insurance coverage and other affordability measures.”
