Minnesota's medical marijuana manufacturing companies have lost $11 million in just two years of sales.
According to financial documents obtained by the Associated Press, LeafLine Labs said it lost $4.7 million last year and $2.2 million in 2015.
Meanwhile, Minnesota Medical Solutions recorded a $1.2 million loss in 2016 and a $3 million loss in 2015.
"From a financial perspective, 2016 was a much better year than 2015," a spokesperson with MinnMed said in an e-mail Monday evening. "Revenues increased from less than $500,000 to more than $2 million, while losses decreased from approximately $3 million to $1 million."
MinnMed hopes to break even in 2017, but "since we are not yet halfway through the calendar year it is a bit premature to make a projection," said the spokesperson.
The state health department in 2016 enlarged the group of people eligible for cannabis medication to include those with intractable pain, a change that doubled visits to Minnesota's eight dispensing clinics as of last August.
"As a physician-led company, we embrace Minnesota's medical model, as it helps ensure that patients have access to high-quality medical cannabis," MinnMed said by e-mail. "We also applaud [the Minnesota Department of Health] for adding intractable pain as a qualifying medical condition. This decision helped provide more Minnesotans with greater access to medical cannabis and offers a safer alternative to those patients currently using opioids."
"We place patients over profit," said Dr. Andrew Bachman, co-founder and CEO of LeafLine Labs.
