Vireo Debuts in Pennsylvania, Grassroots Cannabis Launching Later This Year
Minnesota-based Vireo Health has quietly begun to ship its products to Pennsylvania dispensaries, making it the ninth of the twelve Phase I Grower-Processors to do so. The tenth GP to go fully operational, AES, appears to still be on track for a late 2018 debut.
Vireo’s first shipments are cartridges only, coming in 500mg and 1,000mg individual carts (the latter a first for the PA market) and a 750mg “Starter Pack,” which includes all three of its debut strains in individual 250mg cartridges. The first three strains are a 1:1 OG Kush variant, a 6:1 Granddaddy Purple, and a 19:1 Jack Herer.
Respectively, the strains cover Vireo’s Green, Yellow, and Red lines — the GP’s method to help patients choose the ratios of THC:CBD that they’d like. This is a different approach from the eight previous GPs, where the emphasis on higher CBD strains have been lacking.
Pricing for the cartridges are competitive. Vireo’s 500mg carts are selling for as little as $50 at some locations, it’s 1,000mg as little as $90, and the 3-cartridge starter pack as cheap as $80. This follows a general trend over the past several months of recent GPs aiming for the $50/500mg price point for cartridges, shaking up the market and placing price pressure on others — something the market has not had so far.
Patients can currently find Vireo products at Restore, Justice Grown, Organic Remedies, and Keystone Shops. Others are likely to follow in the coming weeks.
AES is also expected to begin shipping sometime this month, according to earlier statements from the company. Both Vireo and AES enter a market that is increasingly stabilizing, with supply matching demand for what seems like the first time in the eight months since medical marijuana became available in Pennsylvania.
This supply and demand balance likely has a lot to do with the gradually decreasing prices in most forms of MMJ as of late. Combined with the DOH’s change of heart on discounting, lower income patients in some cases are able to purchase their cannabis for as much as 30–40% less than they could at the programs outset.
Still unclear? The timetable for either AgriMed or Franklin Labs. AgriMed’s social media sites have been silent for months, and a check at Franklin Labs’ Centre Avenue location in Reading still shows little if any activity.
