Michigan Cannabis Dispensaries Set $3B Sales Record In 2023

Cannabis sales in Michigan hit a record high last year with dispensaries retailing a little more than $3 billion worth of cannabis, the Metro Times reports.

Annual cannabis sales have increased every year since Michigan’s adult-use market launched in 2019, and a significant majority — about $2.74 billion — of last year’s sales were from adult-use transactions. Notably, retailers closed out the year with the state’s highest monthly cannabis sales record to date with $279.9 million in December sales.

The record sales year also generated about $457.6 million in new taxes for the state — including more than $274 million for local governments, schools, and roads, with an additional $183.6 million for schools, roads, and public health, the report said.

Despite the substantial amount of local tax dollars that cities could gain from cannabis sales, a majority of the state’s municipalities have adopted moratoriums against adult-use sales.

Michigan voters approved the state’s cannabis legalization reforms in 2018 and adult-use sales launched in the state in 2019. The market has been plagued from its start by issues with oversaturation, which caused retail prices to plummet from a little more than $500 per ounce of cannabis flower at market launch to just $80 per ounce last January. Average prices increased slightly over last year, ending at about $90 per ounce in December, according to the report.

State officials in Michigan, which was the 10th U.S. state to legalize adult-use cannabis, opted last year to remove cannabis-related drug testing restrictions for most state employee positions.