In The Words Of Jack Tomczak…

…only the state of Minnesota could figure out a way to lose money selling drugs.

The state’s manufacturers combined to lose more than $5 million in the first year of legal medical marijuana sales in 2015. And patient count hasn’t met projections, exacerbating high prescription costs for patients that the two companies who cultivate and sell medication have only recently begun to address with modest price decreases.

The Office of Medical Cannabis’ request for more than $500,000 over the next two years is just a fraction of the $40 billion-plus budget Minnesota’s Legislature will assemble this year.

But state regulators say that money is critical to cover the higher-than-expected costs for maintenance of their around-the-clock patient registry and the costs of performing 120 inspections or more each year.

Of course it does.

Posted

February 1, 2017

Minnesota Politics

Mitch Berg

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Comments

22 responses to “In The Words Of Jack Tomczak…”

Mammuthus Primigenius

February 1, 2017

Perhaps the state can mitigate the shortfall by encouraging people to drink more. That would increase liquor tax receipts.
Emery Incognito

February 1, 2017

The state needs to relax qualifying ‘conditions’ and allow more individuals into the market/program.
Mammuthus Primigenius

February 1, 2017

This is going to sound crazy, but it’s just possible that people might be able to procure their health-bestowing cannabis from an uninspected dealer and without being placed on a registry.
Emery Incognito

February 1, 2017

It’s a highly restricted program with many hurdles involved. Colorado is only a days drive away….
The Big Stink

February 1, 2017

Mamm: Have the state encourage drinking? Brilliant. How about we legislate ALL Wisconsin weddings must have their receptions and wedding dances in Stillwater? This would send the per capita consumption through the roof, boost revenues for Uber and fortify Hazelden at the same time. There’s a lot of upside to your idea.
escapefromstl

February 1, 2017

The U also lost money selling beer to students at Gopher football games. It’s embarrassing to live here sometimes.
justplainangry

February 1, 2017

yet another example of a successful goobernment run program.
bikebubba

February 1, 2017

I remember the Gophers losing money selling beer. More or less, when you looked at their cost structure, it more or less correlated to each employee selling a beer only once every five minutes. In other words, they overstaffed the heck out of the beer tents, and I reckon they’re doing the same with dope. Which is a shame, as I’ve got a personal friend who says he got off a debilitating dose of oxy with a minor dose of dope. There could be tremendous upside if they get this right.

http://www.twincities.com/2013/03/18/u-lost-money-in-first-season-of-selling-alcohol-at-tcf-bank-stadium/
gl whisler

February 1, 2017

You think the whole registering your name as a user with the government might be a factor? If you answer yes, can we expand this notion to other areas?
Joe Doakes

February 1, 2017

I’m curious – if you have a prescription for weed, which you fill at the official registry, does that make you a habitual drug user such that you’re no longer eligible to possess firearms?

I can see where that might cause a certain class of outstate pain suffering hunters to prefer a non-state vendor.
nerdbert

February 1, 2017

I had a friend whose mother died of pancreatic cancer last year in MN. That’s a painful way to go, and the prognosis once you get diagnosed is a 90+% fatality rate; only about 20% even make it a year. The doctor really didn’t have any hope in her case and suggested palliatives to ease the pain, mentioning that while he could prescribe it, weed would help with the pain and nausea. They looked into the legal route, found out how intrusive, expensive, and time consuming it was and went to “alternative sources”, i.e. they asked their teenage high school daughter to go get it from the druggies at school to give to grandma. It still wasn’t a good way to go, but it was better than not having a supplier.
nerdbert

February 1, 2017

s/could/couldn’t/g above

My kingdom for an editing function!
Chuck

February 1, 2017

Every pothead I’ve known has had no problem buying their stuff. Why go to some doctor to rubber stamp some “ailment” that needs pot, when you can just keep getting it the way you have been?
The Big Stink

February 1, 2017

If my loved one were in hospice, in pain and dying, I could find pot to buy from the staff – guaranteed!
nerdbert

February 1, 2017

Well, Chuck, in the case of the grandma I just mentioned, she was bible-thumping, no alcohol, NRA Life member who never smoked, and her kids, while liberal, were much the same way. They needed a way to get their pot and had no connections other than their high school aged kids. It would have been nice to be able to get it officially, but as the program was a typical government rollout disaster at the time they needed it they had to go black market.

Given that this is a government program, care to take a bet as to the quality/potency of the stuff she got on the black market as compared to the stuff the government sells? I have no data on that, but given past performance I’m certainly willing to take some stiff odds on what’s the “better” product.
Night Writer

February 1, 2017

Didn’t Gov. Dayton advise a mother testifying in favor of medical MJ to buy it on the street?
Troy

February 1, 2017

“around-the-clock patient registry”

So people can fill their prescriptions at midnight?

This is planned government waste.

“performing 120 inspections”

Wow! That sounds like … not a lot. Maybe if they had Agriculture people inspect the agriculture (they are in the same building for heavens sake), they could reduce that cost.
nerdbert

February 1, 2017

TBS, the daughter of that grandma was a nurse, so they did hospice at home.

As to getting pot from the staff at as hospice, I have no idea, but I imagine they need it. My daughter was a CNA for a rest home and it just about destroyed her the first few times she had a patient die. She wound up having to quit despite it being good money for a college student because she couldn’t handle losing the folks she cared for while trying to deal with college deadlines and pressures. She was literally one of those who “care too much” to handle the job. She went back to waitressing and her grades improved significantly while her requests for cash also increased.
Seflores

February 1, 2017

“She was literally one of those who “care too much” to handle the job.”
I was told my child would be a great medical practitioner because she “cares too little” by her Godmother, an OB/GYN who does a lot of high-risk pregnancies (with corresponding numbers of pre-mies and drug addicted newborns who die in the neonatal intensive care unit) who is married to a surgeon.
Scott Hughes

February 1, 2017

nerdbert, I’ve had family and friends that were served by hospice in the course of their final days, God Bless we have caring souls that try very hard to bring comfort, caring, and dignity to the suffering and their families. It takes special folks to handle the stress associated with the work they do. Like first responders hospice work is very tough and not everyone can handle the emotions related to the task.

I have difficulty understanding why prescribed cannabis in any form should be a problem particularly for those suffering from terminal illness.
BigFire

February 1, 2017

The state that have Liquor Control Boards have been losing money selling booze for many decades after the prohibition was repealed. It’s not a new phenomena, it’s not too surprising that they’ll lose money selling dope.
justplainangry

February 2, 2017

Speaking of certain goobernment enterprises and their stranglehold on people – a $70mm bridge construction had been delayed because a single hummingbird nest was discovered on the property. if you guessed this was in CA, you can go home early.