{"id":128420,"date":"2026-04-20T04:15:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-20T10:15:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/what-happened-to-colorados-medical-marijuana-card\/"},"modified":"2026-04-20T04:15:00","modified_gmt":"2026-04-20T10:15:00","slug":"what-happened-to-colorados-medical-marijuana-card","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/what-happened-to-colorados-medical-marijuana-card\/","title":{"rendered":"What happened to Colorado\u2019s medical marijuana card?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Colorado\u2019s
Colorado\u2019s medical marijuana card has lost its popularity as a maturing recreational market and falling prices erode its financial advantage. (Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The medical marijuana card is starting to seem like a relic.<\/p>\n

Patient numbers have fallen for years as cheaper recreational products and tighter regulations shrink Colorado\u2019s once-prominent cannabis program.<\/p>\n

In La Plata County, the number of registered patients has declined steadily since January 2022, when 895 patients were registered, according to the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment<\/a>. By January 2026, that number had dropped to 532.<\/p>\n

The decline is more pronounced compared with the county\u2019s peak of about 1,800 registered medical marijuana patients in 2015.<\/p>\n

The trend mirrors statewide data.<\/p>\n

At the start of 2022, about 85,000 Coloradans held medical marijuana cards. By March 2026, that number had dropped to about 53,000.<\/p>\n

An oversaturated market<\/div>\n

Jessica Neal, vice president of operations at Durango Organics, said the decline reflects a broader downturn in Colorado\u2019s marijuana industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe price of recreational products has plummeted,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s just been a race to the bottom, you know. It\u2019s become an over saturated market.\u201d<\/p>\n

The primary benefit of a medical marijuana card used to be lower costs for the product, Neal said. But the cost savings has largely disappeared.<\/p>\n

Those seeking a medical marijuana card must obtain a medical evaluation and pay state fees.<\/p>\n

In Durango, an evaluation costs $300 at Dominck All-Heart Wellness Center \u2013 believed to be the county\u2019s only provider \u2013 in addition to a $52 state fee.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not a lot of doctors in town anymore who are writing these recommendations. And a little bit more red tape too,\u201d Neal said.<\/p>\n

She also said normalization of marijuana \u2013 a once taboo, highly controversial substance \u2013 may also be contributing to the decline in medical marijuana card seekers.<\/p>\n

Colorado legalized medical marijuana in 2009 and recreational use in 2012, becoming the first state to do so.<\/p>\n

In the early years of legalization, medical marijuana cards offered a little extra protection \u2013 or at least peace of mind \u2013 for pot smokers who had only recently faced potential arrest for possession, Neal said. But she said that concern has largely faded.<\/p>\n

Today, the main advantages of a medical marijuana card are access to higher-potency edibles and allowances for people on probation who can use marijuana if they hold a card.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know (probation) is a reason for a lot of our medical patients, honestly,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Industry as a whole is declining<\/div>\n

Not only are patient numbers declining, but the industry as a whole is shrinking \u2013 particularly on the medicinal side.<\/p>\n

The cost of operating a medical dispensary is no longer economically feasible relative to revenue, said Jackie Coup, general manager of Prohibition Herb. Licensing costs and other fees have risen in recent years.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s making it hard for business owners to provide medical weed to medical patients,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Prohibition Herb, which once offered both medical and recreational sales, closed its medical operation in 2024. Today, only Durango Organics and LOVA Canna Co operate a medical dispensary in Durango, according to CDHE data<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Some of the decline may stem from regulatory changes introduced in 2021 that clamped down on certain parts of the industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe state has made the medical market almost more regulated than the retail market these days,\u201d Neal said. \u201cI don\u2019t know what\u2019s behind that, but it almost seems like they\u2019re trying to push out the medical program. But that\u2019s just my opinion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regardless of state restrictions, the decline in medicinal marijuana use and facilities is the result of the broader slumping of Colorado\u2019s cannabis industry.<\/p>\n

Coup and Neal said recreational customer traffic has also declined, which Coup attributed to legalization in neighboring states like New Mexico and Arizona.<\/p>\n

\u201cDurango, it\u2019s a tourist community. So we\u2019d have tourists coming in here and trying to buy their weed,\u201d she said. \u201cBut now all the tourists, they have legal weed where they come from, so they don\u2019t really need to buy it up here.\u201d<\/p>\n

Neal said this has been the new reality for cannabis stores since COVID-19.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur heyday has passed, I believe,\u201d she said. \u201cSo we\u2019re kind of just adjusting to the new normal,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

jbowman@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Industry shrinking as financial incentives disappear, state regulations tighten<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":128421,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5736,5735],"tags":[2532,1820,28,135,1611,6419],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-128420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news","tag-business-and-finance","tag-dh-trueanthem","tag-headlines","tag-marijuana","tag-medical-marijuana","tag-tj-trueanthem"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128420","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=128420"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/128420\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/128421"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=128420"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=128420"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=128420"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=128420"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}