Fair prices for cannabis producers: why we cut out the middleman

CBD producer prices have fallen continuously while middlemen maximized profits and consumer prices barely moved. The same pattern in the US, Canadian and Dutch THC markets. Here's how CannabisClub.ch does it differently.

The Swiss CBD market has shown a quiet but brutal pattern in recent years: the prices producers receive for their flower have fallen continuously – while middleman margins grew and shelf prices barely moved. The exact same game is playing out in the legal THC markets in the US, Canada and the Netherlands. We do it differently.

Who actually earns on a gram?

When a consumer pays CHF 10 for a gram of CBD in a shop, the producer often keeps less than CHF 1.50. The rest is split between wholesale, brand markups, store rent, marketing and listing fees. The person who spent months planting, tending, trimming and drying ends up with the smallest slice.

The pattern in the CBD market

• 2018–2020: Gold-rush vibes. Producer prices of CHF 4–6/g for premium flower were normal.
• 2021: Massive oversupply and the entry of large players pushed buy-in prices down to CHF 2–3/g.
• 2022–today: Many producers sell below CHF 1/g – in some cases below their own production cost. End consumers still pay CHF 5–10/g in stores.

Translation: the gap between what producers receive and what consumers pay has grown wider, not narrower. That gap goes to middlemen, not to the people actually making the product.

Same story in the THC market

In legalized markets like California, Colorado, Canada and the Netherlands the picture is no better. Farmers who once received $1,500/lb are now sometimes at $200–400/lb – while dispensary prices per gram have only dropped modestly. Distributors, brands and retail chains have fully captured the middle of the value chain.

The result is the same everywhere: family farms and small craft producers disappear, while industrial operators with scale effects and worse quality take over.

Why this serves no one – except the middlemen

• Producers lose their livelihoods; innovation and strain diversity die.
• Consumers keep paying too much for often declining quality.
• The culture loses its signature – passionate craft turns into anonymous commodity.

How CannabisClub.ch flips it

We work directly with Swiss producers. No middlemen, no store rent, no brand markup. What we pay goes almost entirely to the people who grow it.

• Fair buy-in prices. We don't negotiate down until it hurts – we pay prices producers can live on and reinvest with.
• Long-term partnerships. We don't change suppliers every season. We build relationships where both sides can plan.
• Direct line to consumers. The story behind each drop – producer, strain, cultivation – is part of the product, not a marketing label.
• Fair end prices. Because the middle layer is gone, members pay at least 50% below retail – while producers earn more than via classic wholesale.

Passion deserves support, not exploitation

Most people growing cannabis professionally in Switzerland today aren't doing it for quick money. They do it because they believe in the plant, in quality, and in a grown-up cannabis culture. If we want that craft to exist, we have to structurally pay for it differently – not out of pity, but with a market model that's fair.

What this has to do with you as a member

Every order on CannabisClub.ch is a small vote on what the future market should look like: concentrated with a few industrial distributors, or distributed across many passionate producers who get paid fairly. When THC becomes regular in the Swiss market, the principle stays the same: direct line, fair prices, shared value.

Want to be part of a fair model? Join the community →