Managing a Medical Marijuana Budget
While West Virginia’s medical marijuana industry is booming with big sales, large volume, and hefty taxes, patients who have qualified for a medical marijuana certification in West Virginia might find themselves looking at big price tags, heftier taxes, and unaffordable medicine.
This doesn’t necessarily have to be the case, and patients who effectively manage a medical marijuana budget have some tricks to help beat the system and get the best prices possible.
Although there are many things that patients won’t have control over such as prices, inflation, and taxes, there are some ways to make sure you’re getting the most out of your money, and managing a medical marijuana budget is an important step in creating an effective treatment plan.
In this article, we’ll share some of the secrets for managing a medical marijuana budget, how to get the best prices, and how your consumption can affect your budget.
How to Create a Medical Marijuana Budget
How You Time Your Budget Matters
The very first step to creating a medical marijuana budget is to identify what the price of cannabis products are relative to what you can afford.
Getting a general sense for what products go for in dispensaries will help you gauge how big your budget needs to be, and when you’ll want to access it.
For example, some patients will prefer having a weekly budget, while other patients may work with a monthly budget.
How often you want to restock your medicine, drive to dispensaries, or pull cash out of your paycheck, alongside what the product availability looks like, and how steep the prices are, will help you determine the timing of your budget.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Weekly vs Monthly Budgeting
There are advantages and disadvantages for how you want to budget for cannabis.
While having a monthly budget will let you plan out the whole month in advance, give you access to any bulk discounts if available, and give you fewer trips to the dispensary, it can be a problem if there’s limited product availability or if discounts change up every other day, and the first monthly trip can be a heavy hitter on your bank account.
If you’re looking to set out your budget on a weekly discount, you won’t be able to take advantage of any bulk discounts if they’re available and you’ll make extra trips to the dispensary, but you’ll be able to grab products that are harder to find more easily, and you’ll be able to take advantage of discounts that change every few days.
How Your Consumption Affects Your Medical Marijuana Budget
What You Consume is as Important as How Much You Consume
Despite popular belief, cannabis can be quite expensive throughout the country. For patients who need access to consistent medicine, that can be a significant cost every month compared to many other conventionally available medicines.
Picking the right products for your budget will make a big difference in your medical marijuana treatment plan, and leaving out discounts or only using one product type can limit your budget’s effectiveness.
For example, if you only smoke cannabis flower and find yourself paying big amounts for cannabis flower every month, consider introducing edibles or concentrates. Concentrates can deliver very high doses of THC in only a very small amount and can be a great way to stretch your cannabis dollar if you’re a frequent smoker.
Edibles offer a significantly cheaper cost per dose because often they can last for 3 or more hours. As opposed to cannabis flower, which can last from 30 minutes to around 1.5 – 2 hours, you certainly get more out of your money with edibles and concentrates, though beginner patients should note concentrates are designed for patients with a high tolerance due to their potency.
Putting it All Together – A Medical Marijuana Budget
If you have a good sense of the overall cost, whether you’re on a weekly or monthly budget, and what products you’re looking at, you’ll have a good start to keeping a consistent medical marijuana budget.
Putting it all together, will be highly relative to the dispensaries you shop at, the products you choose, and the timing in which you buy them, but there are some tips and tricks to get the most bang for your buck.
Look for dispensaries that do discounts on volume or for specific cannabis products and watch out for any combo deals or “buy one get one” type offers, these are very common in the medical marijuana industry.
Dispensaries also typically have programs like “Flower Fridays” or “Hash Wednesday” when certain product types are on sale, and timing your restock around these discounts can really maximize your cost.
And if you talk to your budtenders, often you can figure out what their schedule is with cultivators, so that you’ll know what days they get new arrivals of specific products, which can help make sure you are able to get products when demand is very high.
Get Your Medical Marijuana Certification in West Virginia
West Virginia’s medical marijuana program is still in the early stages, and patients are registering in record numbers to receive medical marijuana certifications. A medical marijuana certification gives you legal access to cannabis products from approved dispensaries, and you can get your medical marijuana certification in West Virginia today!
Take the steps to schedule your medical marijuana evaluation appointment today and get access to legal marijuana products available at dispensaries!
Being a West Virginia medical marijuana patient allows you the freedom to take your medication the right way for you. We’re dedicated to helping patients every step of the way! Feel free to give us a call at 877-303-8424 and we can answer your questions about getting a medical marijuana card in West Virginia.
Doctors Who Care.
Relief You Can Trust.
West Virginia Marijuana Card’s mission is to help everyone achieve
wellness safely and conveniently through increased access to medical marijuana.
Our focus on education, inclusion, and acceptance will reduce the stigma for
our patients by providing equal access to timely information and compassionate care.
If you have any questions, call us at 877-303-8424, or simply book a medical marijuana evaluation to start getting relief you can trust today!
Check out West Virginia Marijuana Card’s Blog to keep up to date on the latest medical marijuana news, tips, and information and follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to join the medical marijuana conversation in West Virginia.