It feels like the price of everything is going up—except for one hazy, fragrant, and still slightly controversial product: cannabis.
In Massachusetts, the average price for an ounce of weed has plummeted from $394 in 2020 to just $145 in 2024, according to Cannabis Business Times. Michigan saw an even steeper drop—from $419 to just $84 in the same period. In Maine, prices fell from $449 to $206.
This is happening while almost everything else costs more. Bankrate reports consumer prices are up about 24% since 2020.
“I’d call it a collapse,” said Ross Gordon, a policy analyst with the Origins Council, which represents small cannabis farmers in California. Wholesale cannabis used to fetch over $1,000 a pound. Now it’s closer to $250—less than it costs many small farmers to produce.
When recreational cannabis first became legal in certain states, dispensaries could pretty much set whatever price they wanted. There weren’t many of them, supply was limited, and sales were largely cash-based—some owners were literally flush with bills.
But the market has flipped. Dispensaries have multiplied, growers have overproduced, and supply now far exceeds demand.
“You can’t cover your costs with the price, because the price has collapsed so much,” said Beau Whitney, a cannabis economist in Portland, Oregon. “But it’s great for consumers, because consumers get cheap weed.”
Whitney estimates that in 2025, only about 27% of cannabis businesses—whether growers, distributors, or retailers—are turning a profit. Around a third are losing money, sometimes even their homes.
Michigan’s bargain-basement weed
Michigan may have the cheapest legal cannabis in the country—bad news for growers and sellers, but great for customers.
An eighth of an ounce, once $60 or $70, now sells for about $10. When Michigan’s recreational sales began in 2019, an ounce cost more than $200. Today it’s around $60.
Prices have plunged partly because the legal market carries little risk compared to the old illicit market—no prison sentences for growing or selling. But the bigger issue is oversupply. Michigan has far more growers and dispensaries than it can sustain.
“We have retailers that are competing with each other literally on the same street,” said Joe Neller, a cannabis lobbyist in the state.
Massachusetts: A race to the bottom
In Massachusetts, entire blocks are lined with competing dispensaries. The result, said Ryan Dominguez of the Massachusetts Cannabis Coalition, is a “fight to the death” on pricing. Pre-rolled joints that used to go for $14–$16 now cost $6–$8.
In 2025, about two dozen Massachusetts cannabis businesses have already shut down—double that number closed in 2024.
Why prices keep falling
States that legalized earlier, like Colorado and Oregon, saw prices drop sooner, but newer legal markets are seeing even steeper declines.
Industry insiders point to state regulators for allowing unlimited licenses, which has flooded the market. “You quickly get into these scenarios where supply and demand are upside down,” Whitney said. Nationwide, growers are producing more than twice the 50 million pounds the market can handle.
Consumers also play a role. While people will pay extra for microbrews, craft chocolate, or wine from a famous region, that “craft” mentality hasn’t caught on with cannabis. Many buyers don’t pay more for hand-trimmed, pesticide-free, or regionally grown weed.
Celebrity brands from Cheech & Chong, Snoop Dogg, and Jerry Garcia’s family have drawn attention, but in the end, Neller says, “people realize it’s all the same product.”
California is experimenting with a wine-style “appellations” system to highlight region-specific cannabis, which some hope could give small farmers a path to survival.
“If we come to a point where craft cannabis is valued for any of several reasons,” Gordon said, “that’s what small farmers would need to keep their heads above water.”