MEDICINAL CANNABIS

When the dispensary no longer makes sense...

If you use medical cannabis, you've probably noticed something strange. At your usual dispensary, the line isn't the same anymore, the group of patients seems smaller, and the atmosphere feels tense. It's not your imagination. The numbers are tight, and this directly impacts your medicine and your wallet.

By August 2025, there were 310 licensed dispensaries on the island and approximately 117,910 active patients. In 2022, there were more patients, nearly 119,700, and fewer dispensaries, 277. As a result, the average number of patients per dispensary plummeted from 980 to 432 in 2022. Today, with more dispensaries and fewer patients, the pie is even more divided.

Previously, they saw between 80 and 120 patients a day. Today, on a good day, they see 30 to 40, according to independent dispensary owners. With this drop in revenue, paying rent, payroll, utilities, licenses, security, and supplies has become a daily struggle. Many businesses barely break even, earning only what they invest, or they operate at a loss. Meanwhile, the Department of Health continues to issue licenses. In August, there were 464 licensed establishments and 41 more in the pre-qualification process. The government is pushing open the door, but not checking if there's already no room for anyone else inside.

This is where the most important aspect comes in for you as a patient who values culture and humane treatment. It's estimated that only about 60 independent clinics remain on the island.

The rest belongs to large groups that control cultivation, manufacturing, and sales within the same business. These groups harvest the flowers from their own farms, process them, and sell them at their retail outlets. They have greater volume, negotiate better deals, and can absorb losses for longer periods.

The independent dispensary buys wholesale, pays more, cannot lower prices as much, and competes with chains that sometimes open right next door or end up buying it outright.

When consolidation consumes the small business, you lose too. You lose the budtender who knows your dosage by heart, you lose the menu tailored to your needs, you lose a space where you feel comfortable talking about your health without feeling rushed. You're left with a more generic experience, where the pressure to sell quickly trumps honest conversation.

One point that's rarely discussed in the media, but that you hear about every time you sit in the waiting room, is the elderly. Many patients in their 60s and 70s have found real relief with medical cannabis. Less pain, more sleep, fewer harsh side effects than with certain pills.

The problem is that most health insurance plans don't cover cannabis. When pensions are tight and prices rise, that patient looks at the prescription and has to make tough decisions. They either pay for the flower, the oil, or the edibles, or they pay the electricity bill, buy food, or stick with the old pills that aren't working as well anymore.

Several owners tell the same story. Older patients who have stopped coming as often as before. Others who order the smallest possible dose or downgrade from higher-quality products to the cheapest items on the menu. It's not that they no longer believe in cannabis. It's that the money just isn't there.

The agency that regulates the industry has more power than it appears during this crisis. It grants licenses, sets rules, and manages key processes such as patient certification. Owners and patients complain about processes that could take an hour but end up taking weeks or months.

When the system is slow to approve a certification, you're left waiting for a card so you can buy your medicine without fear. Meanwhile, the dispensary sees less traffic, fewer sales, and more pressure. The government talks about public health, but daily practice feels like a bureaucratic maze.

A serious market study is needed. How many patients can the island support? How many clinics make sense? Which areas need more access, and where there's already overcrowding? Without this data, public policy is more like trial and error, and small businesses and you, the patient, pay the price for those errors.

What's happening here isn't isolated. In the United States, the industry reports nearly a thousand fewer licenses, and about 72.7% of operators say they're not making a profit. That gives you a clue. The model based solely on opening more outlets and flooding the market with products is no longer sustainable.

The difference is that on the island the market is smaller and the impact is felt more quickly. When a dispensary closes in a mountain town, it's not just a business that's lost. A group of patients is affected, now having to travel farther to buy medication, spend more on gas, or simply abandon their treatment altogether.

You don't control licenses or global sales, but you're not just a figurehead in this story. Here are several concrete things you can do as part of the medical cannabis culture:

Ask who owns it. If it's a local shop and the service makes you feel valued, give them priority when you can. Buying an eighth of a loaf there instead of at a chain store won't change your month, but for them, it can be the difference between making ends meet or not.

Don't be afraid to say how much you can pay. Many dispensaries offer discounts for seniors, veterans, or people with chronic conditions because they hear these stories every day.

When you speak, they adjust their menu.

Call, write, use social media, participate in public hearings when they're announced. Ask that certifications take a reasonable amount of time—30 minutes to an hour, not months. Fewer obstacles for you mean more patients coming through the door and fewer closures.

If you know patients who only look at the price per gram, explain to them that service, education, and business stability also matter.

A dispensary that knows your history reduces dosage errors, avoids unnecessary purchases, and takes better care of your health.

At Sens Culture, we see medicinal cannabis as part of a specific lifestyle: health, community, and respect. When numbers overwhelm independent dispensaries, that culture weakens. Fewer trusted spaces, less real variety, fewer local voices in the conversation.

You, as a patient or ally, are not a spectator. You are part of the ecosystem. Your purchases, your complaints, your stories, and your presence in the dispensary send a clear message about what model you want to see survive.

If we want medicinal cannabis to remain a tool for well-being and not just another chain product, we need to look beyond the daily discount and support those who carry the industry from the counter in your town.

Mr. Sens

EDITOR IN CHIEF

@mrsenskin