Date of Award
1-1-2017
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
M.A.
Department
Economics
First Advisor
Markus P. A. Schneider, Ph.D.
Second Advisor
Yavuz Yaşar, Ph.D.
Third Advisor
Chiara Piovani
Fourth Advisor
Joshua Hanan
Keywords
Big pharma, Cannabinoids, Cannabis, Marijuana, Pharmaceuticals, Pharmacoeconomics
Abstract
Normative studies misunderstand a crucial aspect of cannabis legalization: they have not critically analyzed how the pharmaceutical industry might react when synthetic cannabinoid compounds could be incorporated into new products. I argue that when marijuana is federally legal, there will be two independent market developments in: i) the cannabis market, which includes botanic cannabis and herbal supplements sold in retail nutrition stores; and ii) the FDA-approved ethical drug market. How does the drug industry's monopolistic pricing structure lend itself to strategic pricing for these new synthetic cannabinoids? How much competition can we expect between dispensaries and nutrition shops selling herbal supplements? This work seeks to answer these questions by reviewing the literature on pricing and marketing strategies. I find that supplements' pricing strategies are based on production costs and retail shops' degree of market power. Prices for over-the-counter herbal supplements will follow a medium-low price to low price skimming trajectory. From a policy perspective, health insurers may cover these drugs in future drug plans. Synthetic cannabinoids may also be a breakthrough in the battling the opioid epidemic.
Publication Statement
Copyright is held by the author. User is responsible for all copyright compliance.
Recommended Citation
Freer, Ryan T., "Beyond the Legalization of Marijuana: Economics of Marijuana as a Drug and Herbal Supplement" (2017). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 1274.
https://digitalcommons.du.edu/etd/1274
Provenance
Received from ProQuest
Rights holder
Ryan T. Freer
File size
77 p.
Copyright date
2017
File format
application/pdf
Language
en
Discipline
Economics