Why Miami Deserves Better: The Harsh Reality of Vertical Integration in Florida’s Medical Cannabis Market

If you’ve been to a medical dispensary in Miami lately, you’ve probably noticed: the flower quality just isn’t there. Dry buds, weak effects, barely any flavor — and yet everything is sold at top-shelf prices.

The reason? Florida’s vertically integrated system. Companies are required to grow, process, and sell everything themselves, which shuts out small craft growers and creates a monopoly-like setup. With no real competition, there’s zero incentive to improve quality. Most of what’s on shelves is mass-produced, rushed, and lacking the terpene and cannabinoid profiles you’d expect from true medical-grade flower.

Even the “best” Miami dispensaries can’t compete with markets like California or Oregon, where independent growers and competition push quality way higher. Patients here are stuck choosing from a handful of giant corporate menus that rotate the same mid over and over.

Anytime someone brings this up, they’re shut down with the same recycled talking points — “You’re just picky” or “Florida flower is just as good.” It’s not. Anyone who’s smoked real quality can tell the difference instantly.

Until vertical integration is dismantled, Miami will remain stuck with overpriced, underwhelming flower. Patients deserve real medicine — not dried-out, low-terp mids in fancy jars.

(If this is somehow against rules, I’m sorry mods… I’ll take down. I tried to read through and make sure I wasn’t breaking any rules. This is a real issue that needs to be brought to attention.)