When we talk about prices, let's take a step back and have a look reality before we get too excited.

The legalization/decriminalization of things makes them less expensive, not more so.

The price of gold has been exploding exponentially over the last few years and it's currently at a little less than $1000/oz. They say "money doesn't grow on trees," but cannabis does (figuratively speaking). Should two and a half ounces of cannabis be worth a one ounce bar of gold?

How about the prices of some other agricultural products retailing on the consumer level? Let's see...Tobacco. It's a much more volatile substance, so not only do the tobacco companies have to deal with the pseudo-legality of their product, they also have to dish out big money for lawsuits and money for civil suit lawyers.

A pack of the most expensive brand name pre-rolled cigarettes weighs 1.1 ounces and retails for around $5. That's including all the packaging, papers and filters too. Rolling your own costs even less, and they usually throw in a complimentary pack of rolling papers.

I'm not saying that marijuana should cost $5 an ounce, and I want to see people able to make a profit from the industry and be able to support themselves while doing work that spreads awareness and acceptance of cannabis as a medicine. But it damn sure shouldn't cost as much as most dispensaries are charging, even the ones who are selling at "only" $100 for a quarter. Even on the black market a quarter from someone who knows where to get it only retails for about $75-$90.

If the dispensaries can't get the prices down they're not going to survive in a legal market. I suggest patients choose private caregivers and caregiver co-operatives; who/which retail marijuana for between $200-$300. Those are the growers, and the growers' co-ops. Private caregivers and caregiver cooperatives are less likely than the dispensaries to be raided, and if your dispensary ends up like one of the dispensaries in Colorado that recently got raided by the feds then your name and documentation goes into a federal database. The feds don't have time for individuals who are growing enough for only a couple of other people, they will continue raiding the dispensaries.

The huge DEA operation in Hawaii that went on just a couple days ago targeted all the dispensaries on several islands, it was not focusing on rounding up caregivers, it was engaged in a shock and awe mass-raid of the dispensaries. So maybe it's not economical to own a dispensary yet in the current legal environment. I think it could be done, but if it's not economical to own a dispensary yet in the current legal environment that's no reason to rip people off in order to do so when there are other legal and much more affordable alternatives ot there, of better quality. Let's face it, the dispensaries that aren't growing their own are getting somebody else's leftovers, who is keeping the better stuff for themselves and their patients. That's why the tiny buds, caregivers can only legally have 2 ounces of product per patient, and when they get more than that in a single harvest (six or even three plants can give you waay more than 2 ounces), they sell the excess to dispensaries who in essence recieve and mark up a product that's inferior to the cheaper version.

Dispensaries that grow their own are at least possibly producing an equivalent product to what smaller scale gardeners are producing, but still their retail products are overpriced. Really, mass-producers don't produce the same quality product that small-scale producers do, but they may have a larger strain selection.

The only reason I can ever imagine going to a dispensary that didn't grow its own would be for convenience, like going through the drive-thru at mcdonalds. You're not there for price, it'd be cheaper to shop at the grocery store. You're damn sure not there for the quality. You're there for convenience, because it's a way to get yourself a little something to hold yourself over until it's time to make a real purchase.