{"id":208935,"date":"2026-08-16T20:32:39","date_gmt":"2026-08-17T01:32:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=208935"},"modified":"2026-08-16T20:32:40","modified_gmt":"2026-08-17T01:32:40","slug":"study-shows-ohio-pot-users-pay-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2026\/08\/16\/study-shows-ohio-pot-users-pay-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Study shows Ohio pot users pay more"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Megan Henry\/<\/strong>Ohio Capital Journal<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two years after Ohio recreational marijuana sales began, Ohio\u2019s adult-use marijuana continues to be significantly more expensive than Michigan, according to pricing data. Meanwhile, Ohio Republican lawmakers have outlawed buying from other states.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The cheapest ounce of marijuana in Ohio is $112 while the cheapest ounce in Michigan is $6.99, according to the WeedBuddy Cannabis Price Index. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Arizona, it\u2019s $49.99, and in Colorado, it\u2019s $16.73.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The median cost of an ounce shows far closer prices though Ohio still sits as most expensive among the four states at $147.35, compared to $99 in Michigan, $120 in Arizona, and $110 in Colorado.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ohio\u2019s median price for an eighth of cannabis flower is $35, compared to Michigan\u2019s $20 for the same amount as of July 31, the index shows.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cPrice is going to be one of the most important aspects in terms of determining where they purchase cannabis,\u201d said Morgan Fox, political director for the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPeople were already used to driving to Michigan to purchase cannabis, so as long as there\u2019s still a massive price differential, they\u2019re probably going to continue doing so at least for the foreseeable future.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Marijuana is illegal for recreational use in Indiana, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Pennsylvania. Ohio recreational sales started in August 2024, about nine months after Ohioans voted to legalize recreational marijuana.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A new law passed by Republican state lawmakers took effect earlier this year that made a wide variety of changes to the voter-passed law. Ohio Senate Bill 56 criminalized bringing legal marijuana from another state back to Ohio. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf you\u2019re caught with cannabis that cannot be verified purchased in Ohio or verified grown in Ohio, then it\u2019s the same penalties as it was under prohibition of pre-legalization,\u201d Fox said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, he was doubtful Ohio customers knew about the changes to Ohio\u2019s law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cIf people had gotten used to doing that when cannabis was not legal in Ohio, they\u2019re probably going to continue to do so,\u201d Fox said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The law also bans possessing marijuana in anything outside of its original packaging and requires drivers to store marijuana in the trunk of their car while driving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furthermore, the law reduced THC levels in adult-use marijuana extracted from a maximum of 90 percent down to a maximum of 70 percent, capped THC levels in adult-use flower to 35 percent, and banned smoking in most public places. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ohio\u2019s total recreational marijuana sales were $1.67 billion as of July 11, according to the Ohio Department of Commerce Division of Cannabis Control. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The median price of a standard eighth of cannabis flower was $36.40 in Columbus, $32 in Cincinnati, and $30.80 in Cleveland at the end of July, according to the price index. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Compared to cities in Michigan, the median price of the same amount of cannabis flower, according to the price index., cost $25 in Lansing, $20 in Detroit, and $20 in Monroe, Michigan which is about 12 miles from downtown Toledo.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There have been 32.5 million units of manufactured products that have been sold and 267,590 pounds of plant material, according to the division. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are 223 dual-use marijuana dispensaries in Ohio as of Thursday, meaning they can sell medical and non-medical marijuana, according to the division. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

More than 160 Ohio municipalities or townships that have moratoriums in place banning the sale of adult-use cannabis as of June 3, according to Ohio State University\u2019s Moritz College of Law. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michigan voters legalized recreational marijuana in 2018 and sales started in December 2019. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMichigan\u2019s market is much more well established, and we\u2019ve seen in most cannabis markets that prices tend to go down over time,\u201d Fox said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michigan has more than 800 active retail licenses as of June 2026, and Michigan marijuana stores reported about $3.17 billion in revenue in 2025, according to the Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMichigan also has a much bigger market in terms of the numbers of dispensaries and the number of licensed businesses than Ohio does, largely because Ohio artificially capped that, so that means that since there\u2019s more competition between those businesses, they have to keep their prices a little bit lower to be competitive,\u201d Fox said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michigan is the second-largest adult-use marijuana market in the nation, behind California. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Megan Henry\/Ohio Capital Journal Two years after Ohio recreational marijuana sales began, Ohio\u2019s adult-use marijuana continues to be significantly more expensive than Michigan, according to pricing data. Meanwhile, Ohio Republican lawmakers have outlawed buying from other states. The cheapest ounce of marijuana in Ohio is $112 while the cheapest ounce in Michigan is $6.99, according to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-208935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-24 07:07:06","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208935","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208935"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208935\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":208938,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208935\/revisions\/208938"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}