"We have been waiting for this turning point since we started selling in 2018," Leafly senior editor David Downs said of California cannabis prices. Photo courtesy of David Downs/Leafly.

If you have been to a local pharmacy recently, you may have noticed that your favorite bud is cheaper than usual. Of course, the total balance on your receipt may still be high, but this is usually due to high state and local taxes, not flowers. However, while you may enjoy cheaper prices, others are feeling the heat: farmers. 

The economics of supply and demand seem to benefit consumers in the California cannabis market. This is because more and more growers are producing more weeds than the shops know. 

Leafly senior editor David Downs (David Downs) spoke with KCRW on this matter. 

KCRW: In terms of pricing, this summer seems to be very different from last year. What has changed?

David Downs: "There are a lot of affordable, tested cannabis flowers smoking at a lower price, which was originally promised by legalization. This is new and different from last year. 

Last year, we fell into a cannabis drought, which was caused by COVID demand and lack of legal supply. ...On the west side of Los Angeles, we saw pharmacies like High Path, which cost $140 for an ounce and $55 for a half ounce. [We] saw similar price ranges at Pottery and Herb and Med Men Venice, but the prices were ridiculed.

This does compete with the illegal market. ...At the low end, legal marijuana can now provide the number one value proposition of the illegal market, which is low prices. This is based on convenience, legality, testing, and security. Since we started selling in 2018, we have been waiting for this turning point. The question now is whether the situation will continue to change. "

“Because we have 7,911 cannabis farm licenses in California. Experts believe that this means that approximately 1,700 acres of cannabis production is already in operation. At the same time, the sales of legal stores may only be 1,000 acres. Therefore, the basic supply and demand relationship Still established. 

The farmers have a very good outdoor harvest in 2020. They persisted a lot. This year they are trying to unload the goods. What they encountered was [planting] more marijuana entering the store this spring. And [there are] more cannabis coming in from this year's harvest. 

Structurally, the farmers said [they] saw the problem of oversupply and illegal markets. This will continue to drive down prices. "

Is this foreseeable by growers?

"I remember 10 years ago, RAND researchers said,'Hey, we calculated these numbers. If you legalize cannabis completely, it might be one-tenth of the price of cannabis, the prohibition price. That's it.

At the peak of the 90s, the price of indoor OG Kush was $6,000 per pound. Farmers now report that the same strain can make $600 per pound. ...The question is how quickly and how quickly California's regulation and enforcement will decline. "

But this is already happening in Oregon. In 2019, I went there and bought 8 ounces for $6. That's not 60 dollars or 16 dollars—6 dollars. 

We are in a period of industrialization and economies of scale, and all other plants on the planet have experienced this before the advent of cannabis. With the lifting of the ban, this change is coming. This has basically been brewing for eight years. "

What is mild deprivation and how does it affect the market?

"We are now in August, which is the full season of outdoor cannabis plants. Cannabis is an annual plant that is grown in the spring and usually harvested in the fall. According to the timeline of the sun and the length of the night, those things are still ripening in the field. 

But farmers have discovered that you can create longer nights by depriving plants of light, thereby enticing plants to bloom earlier. This is [by] throwing tarps on the greenhouse while the day is still going on, to make the plants think that it is autumn and the night is really long. 

Light deprivation has completely changed cannabis cultivation and will continue to do so. I think the future of cannabis grown in California will be grown in greenhouses all year round using these light deprivation techniques. 

It has only become popular in the past 5 or 10 years and has completely changed the rules of the game. In terms of THC and terpenes, the quality of lightly deprived marijuana will be lower than indoor quality, but the savings from using sunlight and hitting balls at different times of the season have changed the rules of the game for consumers. They will be able to have the best year-round and pay very low prices for it. "

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