How Do New England Cannabis Prices Compare to Other Legal States?

With the legalization of recreational cannabis in 24 states, dispensaries are popping up left and right.

As a user myself, I often touch base with my friends in other states to see what they pay for cannabis. I like to compare. For example, I would not mind driving 30-45 minutes to either Massachusetts or Maine if it saved me $100 off of an ounce of flower.

To that point, I have been floored by some prices (on both ends of the spectrum) from friends all over the country. Now there are variables, of course, like taxes, buying legally vs. illegally, medical cards vs. recreational, etc.

So for the process of this exercise, I am only looking at recreational cannabis prices, pre-taxed, from dispensaries in legal states.

The first state I looked up happened to be the lowest: Oregon. According to a World Population Review article, Oregon had the cheapest prices, with an ounce costing about $211 on average.

You are probably thinking what I am. That seems...reasonable, at least compared to what we see in New England. That's because our prices are way higher.

In Maine, an ounce of that same stuff would cost you $288, according to the World Population Review. In New Hampshire or Massachusetts, that ounce would cost you between $335-$341.

But why is there a $130 discrepancy? It costs 1.5x as much in Mass as it does in Oregon. Why?

"20 states allow and levy some type of excise tax on recreational cannabis purchases," according to a Tax Policy article. "But different states use different taxes—percentage-of-price taxes, weight-based taxes, and potency-based taxes—and some levy multiple taxes on cannabis."

So you know the prices now, and the choice is yours. Move? By "local" (illegally) without tax? Buy legally but pay taxes to the government? The choice is all yours.