Main thing is, to break into the "game", mmj had to follow the model set forth during prohibition. If it costs $300 on the street to buy an oz of good quality bud, then they figure they can charge that and maybe a bit more for their trouble (see jackmillion's first sentence). Large growers aren't just going to start giving their bud away to be good people if that's their main source of income. The dispensaries can't have as large of clientel as street dealers because they can only legally sell to a small percentage of users, which also begs them to seek as high of prices as are "reasonable". All these and more are part of the reason why "meds" are so expensive, it's really uncompassionate but what can you do besides growing it yourself or finding a real "caregiver"?