Michigan closed out 2021 with one other record-breaking month of adult-use marijuana gross sales in December, state officers say.
The state noticed greater than $135 million in leisure hashish purchases and about $33 million in medical marijuana gross sales final month.
Andrew Brisbo, government director of the Michigan Marijuana Regulatory Company (MRA), mentioned on Monday that the numbers “marked one other excessive for the adult-use trade.” The earlier adult-use marijuana gross sales report occurred in October, with about $128 million in purchases.
It’s good to notice that the brand new excessive is just not due to growing costs. In actual fact, costs in medical and adult-use proceed to drop, month over month, and yr over yr.
Dec 2020: grownup use was $350/oz & medical was $265/oz.
Dec 2021: adult-use at $185/oz & medical at $175/oz.
— Andrew Brisbo (@AndrewBrisbo) January 10, 2022
“It’s good to notice that the brand new excessive is just not due to growing costs,” he mentioned. “In actual fact, costs in medical and adult-use proceed to drop, month over month, and yr over yr.”
Whereas December set the brand new report for adult-use marijuana purchases, the state noticed essentially the most mixed leisure and medical hashish gross sales in July, with about $171 million offered.
The most recent data brings Michigan’s complete hashish gross sales for 2021 to $1,311,951,737 for adult-use and $481,225,540 for medical marijuana. And people purchases are translating into a whole bunch of tens of millions of {dollars} in tax income for the state.
About $131 million goes to a hashish excise tax fund that helps numerous initiatives reminiscent of infrastructure and public training, MRA spokesman David Harns mentioned. One other $115 million will help the state basic fund.
Taxes flowing into the state of Michigan due to legalized marijuana in 2021:
$131.2 million goes to the marijuana excise fund which will get divvied up amongst native authorities, roads, and faculties.
$115.4 million goes to the state gross sales tax bucket.
Nearly 1/4 billion in taxes. https://t.co/kw2N4shya1
— David Harns (@DavidHarns) January 10, 2022
In close by Illinois, December was additionally one other record-breaking month, with $137.9 million in adult-use marijuana gross sales.
Final yr, Illinois took in almost $100 million more in tax revenue from leisure hashish gross sales than from alcohol, state knowledge reveals. And hashish tax {dollars} have exceeded these for liquor each month since February.
A part of that marijuana tax income is actively funding fairness initiatives within the state. For instance, Illinois officers introduced final month that applications are opening for $45 million in new grants—funded by hashish tax {dollars}—that may help packages meant to reinvest in communities most harmed by the drug battle.
States which have legalized hashish have collectively garnered more than $10 billion in tax revenue for the reason that first authorized gross sales began in 2014, in accordance with a report launched by the Marijuana Coverage Mission (MPP) final week.
In Arizona, medical and adult-use marijuana gross sales topped $1 billion in the first ten months of the yr, state tax officers mentioned.
California collected about $817 million in adult-use marijuana tax revenue in the course of the 2020-2021 fiscal yr, state officers estimated in August. That’s 55 p.c extra hashish earnings for state coffers than was generated within the prior fiscal yr.
A current scientific evaluation of gross sales knowledge in Alaska, Colorado, Oregon and Washington State discovered that marijuana purchases “have increased more during the COVID-19 pandemic than within the earlier two years.”
In July alone, at the least three states saw record-breaking sales for leisure hashish. The identical goes for Missouri’s medical marijuana program.