Arizona Adult-Use Cannabis Sales Reach a Record $60M

Adult-use cannabis sales in Arizona set a new record in November, topping $60 million for the first time, as the state Department of Revenue reported $1.23 billion in both medical and adult-use sales through the first 11 months of 2021, AZ Mirror reports. In November, medical cannabis sales reached $60,299,191, nearly matching the $60,365,545 in adult-use sales.

The state imposes a 16% excise tax on adult-use sales in addition to the state’s standard 5.6% sales tax. Medical cannabis patients pay a 6% excise tax and localities can charge an additional 2% for all cannabis sales.

In all, Arizona collected $5,055,950 in taxes from adult-use cannabis sales, with medical cannabis-derived tax revenues slightly lower at $5,026,317. The excise tax reached $10,110,032 for a total of $20,192,299 in combined tax revenues from November cannabis sales.

For the first 11 months of 2021, the state collected $196,447,570 in cannabis tax revenues – $58,916,172 in medical cannabis taxes, $44,533,436 in adult-use taxes, and $92,997,962 in excise taxes. In 2020, the first year of adult-use sales, the state had raised $106 million.

The state’s cannabis legalization law dedicates 33% of adult-use tax revenues for community college and provisional community college districts; 31% to public safety; 25% to the Arizona Highway User Revenue Fund, and 10% to the justice reinvestment fund, which provided public health services, counseling, job training, and other social services for communities that have been adversely affected by the previous disproportionate enforcement of cannabis criminalization. Last month, the state received more than 1,500 applications for social equity industry licenses which are expected to be awarded in the spring.