This story was republished with permission from Crain’s Cleveland Business and written by Jeremy Nobile.
For the third year in a row, medical marijuana patients have reported increasing levels of satisfaction with the Ohio Medical Marijuana Control Program (OMMCP), according to The Ohio State University’s Drug Enforcement and Policy Center (DEPC).
Medical marijuana sales began in Ohio in January 2019, and this new study marks the DEPC’s sixth annual report tracking progress and developments in the medical program.
Here are some of the many key takeaways outlined in DEPC’s latest study.
Patient satisfaction
In 2024, 31% of patients surveyed by DEPC reported being “extremely” satisfied with the medical program, while 43% said they were “somewhat” satisfied. In other words, 74% of respondents were generally satisfied with the program.
Meanwhile, 20% said they were either “extremely” (6%) or “somewhat” (14%) dissatisfied.
These figures are a marked improvement from last year.
In 2023, 19% and 43% of respondents reported being either “extremely” or “somewhat” satisfied, respectively, which comes out to a 62% satisfaction rate.
Meanwhile, 30% said they were either “extremely” (10%) or “somewhat” (20%) dissatisfied in 2023.
While dissatisfaction with the program has decreased, the reasons for that dissatisfaction have largely stayed the same.
“Factors driving patient dissatisfaction stayed consistent with 2023, with 70% of respondents reporting that their dissatisfaction is driven by the high prices in Ohio dispensaries, 56% citing the high cost of annual fees and doctor recommendation and 47% citing lack of legal protections for employment,” according to DEPC.
On the policy front, DEPC suggests that changes that could further increase patient satisfaction include providing legal protections for employment, allowing home delivery and not requiring an annual medical patient registration.
Lower patient participation
Despite medical customers being increasingly happier with the medical program, the number of registered patients has decreased.
There were just 159,997 actively registered medical marijuana patients in the state as of July 31, according to the Division of Cannabis Control (DCC).
This means that less than 1.4% of the state’s approximately 11.8 million people are medical marijuana patients. Operators have historically expected around 2% to 3% of a state’s population to be medical patients.
According to data tracked by DEPC, the medical population peaked in size in October 2023 at 184,958 registered patients. So patient rolls have decreased by about 13.5% since then.
It’s common for a state’s medical population to decrease as non-medical sales come online.
As DEPC notes: “This is not surprising given similar experiences of all other states that have transitioned to adult-use market. Their experience also shows that the extent of the decline will depend on the degree to which regulators and policymakers are willing to make changes to policies that affect patients’ access to marijuana products and their satisfaction levels.”
The pool of physicians with certificates to recommend medical marijuana has also decreased from a peak of 648 in June 2023 to 597 in July.
Sales up, but growth rate slowed
According to DEPC’s analysis, sales of medical marijuana flower increased 30% between fiscal years 2023 and 2024 (Ohio is on a July to June fiscal year), while sales of manufactured products increased 20%.
While the medical market grew, that growth rate slowed compared to the prior year. And there are also signs of medical sales activity slowing since adult-use sales began.
Between fiscal years 2022 and 2023, sales of medical plant material and manufactured products increased 39.6% and 33.9%, respectively, according to DEPC.
In total, there has been approximately $1.95 billion in medical marijuana sales in Ohio since January 2019 through Sept. 7, according to the latest DCC data.
Adult-use sales began in Ohio on Aug. 6. Since then, medical marijuana sales remain relatively strong, though they have slowed.
Across three weeks in September, there’s been an average of $7.28 million in total medical marijuana sales per week or roughly $1.04 million per day.
In August, there was an average of $7.9 million in medical sales per week or roughly $1.25 million per day.
Tax collections flat
DEPC reports that despite the “robust growth in total sales, sales receipts remained largely flat due to declining prices, increasing only by 2% from $478,067,435 in FY23 to $487,589,380 in FY24,” according to DEPC. “This is a significantly lower growth rate than the 10% recorded from FY22 to FY23.”
As of March 31, Ohio “collected $95,875,003 of total marijuana tax revenue from the 5.75% state sales tax,” according to DEPC. “Municipalities, counties, and other regional entities have collected an additional $24,889,170 from local sales taxes ranging between 0.5% (to) 2.25%.”
DEPC reports that tax revenue collections in Ohio “follow a similar pattern seen in other states, with an initial rapid growth of 168.5% in its third year of operations, followed by 39% and 10.9% in its fourth and fifth year, and finally plateauing in its sixth year with virtually flat tax revenue collection.”
Decreasing prices jump with adult-use launch
The average price per gram of medical marijuana flower decreased 19.8% from $7.67 in FY 2023 to $6.15 in FY 2024, according to DEPC. Meanwhile, the average price per unit of manufactured product decreased 18.5% from $34.35 in FY 2023 to $28 in FY 2024.
“However, June and July of 2024 recorded the highest average plant prices ($7.28 and $7.83 respectively) since January 2023 and November 2022,” according to DEPC, “which could be an indication that dispensary pricing is likely to be negatively affected at least initially by the beginning of recreational marijuana sales.”
According to the latest state data, in the first week of September, the average price per gram of marijuana flower in the state (so inclusive of medical and non-medical products) was $8.95 per gram or $25.32 per one-tenth of an ounce (i.e. one “day unit”), and the average price on manufactured products per unit was $30.51.
Ohio prices do seem comparatively high when juxtaposed with neighboring Michigan. According to DEPC, “prices in Ohio dispensaries continue to be approximately 70% higher than in Michigan dispensaries.”
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