Report: Maryland Has Raised $21.7M from Cannabis Taxes

According to a Beacon Economics report, Maryland’s medical cannabis industry has raised about $21.7 million in tax revenue for the state and created more than 4,000 jobs. The firm says that from January 2018 to June 2018, medical cannabis sales in the state topped $34.9 million and reached $106 million over the same period the following year, representing a growth rate of more than 200 percent, according to a WUSA9 outline of the data.

The Beacon report studied the total expenditures, facility investments, operations spending, and fiscal impacts of the state’s 18 licensed cannabis cultivators and 18 processors. It notes that from January 2012 to December 2019, the cannabis space saw $811.56 million in investments; in 2012 that figure was just $35,000 but reached $240 million last year.

The report was conducted on behalf of the Maryland Wholesale Medical Cannabis Trade Association. Mackie Barch, the association’s chairman, said there are more than 85,000 registered patients in the state and that the group plans to “play a leading role in helping the state achieve its goals related to adult use.” Lawmakers in Maryland held the first meeting of the cannabis legalization task force last summer.

In 2018, the state Legislature passed a bill to expand the number of medical cannabis licenses available following a push by members of the legislature to open up licensing to minority-owned firms after some lawmakers criticized the first round of licensing for not approving any minority-owned firms.

In their report, Beacon noted that the state “should be cautious in how it issues licenses in the coming years, focusing on sustained and equitable growth for the industry.”