Wednesday, February 12, 2020

Does official public data about Ohio's Medical Marijuana Control Program show its efficacy? Its ineffectiveness?

In a post from few days ago, I asked "How should policymakers assess the efficacy of medical marijuana programs? What are key metrics?".   I have asked students in my marijuana reform seminar to reflect on these questions, and I am wondering if official data on Ohio's "Medical Marijuana Control Program" can help answer these question in the Buckeye State. 

Specifically, here is link to a graphic that compares some data on Ohio's medical marijuana program from January 2019 and January 2020.  Because the 2019 data is from the "first day of sales," we see great growth in listed number over the course of a year (e.g., registered patients grew from 12,721 to 73,967).  Is this a mark of success for a program that became law in mid 2016?  Or does this show how slowly (or poorly) the program got launched?

Or consider this page of cumulative data as of Feb 7, 2020 

Dispensaries
  • 57 Provisional licenses
    • 49 Provisional licensees have received a Certificate of Operation
Patients & Caregivers (as of 12/31/2019)
  • 83,857 Recommendations
  • 78,376 Registered patients
    • 5,617 Patients with Veteran Status
    • 4,398 Patients with Indigent Status
    • 449 Patients with a Terminal Diagnosis
  • 55,617 Unique patients who purchased medical marijuana (as reported to OARRS by licensed dispensaries)
  • 8,259 Registered Caregivers
Physicians
  • 590 Certificates to Recommend
Sales Figures (as of 2/3/2020)
  • 8,174 lbs. of plant material
  • 393,726 units of manufactured product
  • 68.1 million in product sales
  • 534,913 total receipts
  • Historical Sales Data

Are any of these numbers especially important in judging the success of Ohio's medical marijuana program? What other metrics would be important to judging the success of Ohio's medical marijuana program?

https://lawprofessors.typepad.com/marijuana_law/2020/02/does-official-public-data-about-ohios-medical-marijuana-control-program-show-its-efficacy-its-ineffe.html

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