Author, as appears in the article.: Manthey J; Obradors-Pineda A

Department: Antropologia, Filosofia i Treball Social

URV's Author/s: Obradors Pineda, Anna

Keywords: Spain Resin Quantity discount Price Potency Flower Cannabis social club Cannabis Barcelona spain resin quantity discount price legal flower cannabis social club cannabis

Abstract: Introduction: Cannabis social clubs (CSC) are community-based non-profit organisations that aim to minimise cannabis-related harm for their members. This contribution seeks to: (i) compare the cost of cannabis flower and resin in CSCs to the national average retail price on the illegal market; and (ii) identify possible quantity discounts for cannabis flower and resin distributed to members of CSCs. Methods: Routine data from four CSCs located in Barcelona, Spain, contained information on n = 220,465 collections of cannabis resin and flower (0.01–39 g per collection). The costs for 1 g of cannabis flower and resin per collection were determined. The mean national prices on illicit cannabis were obtained from Spanish police reports. Results: On average, members paid 6.19€ for 1 g flower (median: 6€; interquartile range: 6–7€) and 8.54€ for 1 g resin (median: 7€; interquartile range: 6–9€), with less variations for flower than for resin. Compared to the national average, prices appeared to be higher for cannabis products distributed in CSCs, but comparisons were limited by a lack of data on the variation of national prices. For resin, doubling the quantity was associated with a 20.7% (95% confidence interval 20.4–21.2%; p < 0.001) fee discount. Discussion and conclusions: Cannabis in CSCs may be more costly than the estimated national average for the illicit market. No meaningful price discount could be observed for flower but for resin. Pricing policies pursued by CSCs may help to disincentivise consumption of larger amounts but may also bar socioeconomically disadvantaged users from accessing safer alternatives than the illegal market.

Thematic Areas: Substance abuse Sociologia i política Saúde coletiva Psicología Medicine (miscellaneous) Medicina ii Medicina i Health (social science) General medicine Ciencias sociales

licence for use: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/es/

Author's mail: anna.obradors@estudiants.urv.cat

Author identifier: 0000-0002-3624-9102

Record's date: 2023-08-05

Papper version: info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion

Link to the original source: https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/dar.13680

Papper original source: Drug And Alcohol Review. 42 (5): 1153-1160

APA: Manthey J; Obradors-Pineda A (2023). Prices of flower and resin in cannabis social clubs: Analyses of register data from 220,000 collections. Drug And Alcohol Review, 42(5), 1153-1160. DOI: 10.1111/dar.13680

Licence document URL: http://repositori.urv.cat/ca/proteccio-de-dades/

Article's DOI: 10.1111/dar.13680

Entity: Universitat Rovira i Virgili

Journal publication year: 2023

Publication Type: Journal Publications