Recreational cannabis sales in Michigan increased 40% to $9.8 million in January, according to new figures from the Marijuana Regulation Agency.
The state kicked off a new era of legal sales in December and Michiganders purchased spent $7 million on weed in the first month of trading. That increased to $9.8 million in January, resulting tax revenue of $1.63 million for the state.
Michigan spent just over $550,000 on recreational marijuana licensing in January, up around 25% compared to December. Once those costs are accounted for, the revenue it receives goes towards marijuana research, and it will eventually be spent on schools and road repair too.
Recreational marijuana stores sold 588.7 pounds of flower for a total of $4.8 million in January. Vaping cartridges formed the second most popular category, accounting for $2.5 million in sales, while edibles were worth around $1.5 million to Michigan’s weed shops.
The average retail price for an ounce of retail recreational marijuana dipped slightly, from $516 per ounce in December to $512 in January.
Around 1,400 of the 1,771 communities in the state have opted to prevent recreational cannabis businesses from launching. That will stunt Michigan’s ability to bring in the sort of tax revenue Illinois has earmarked from recreational marijuana, but the market should continue to open up in the months ahead.
One significant hub will be Lansing: the city approved licenses for 11 retail stores, 10 grow permits at six locations, a processor and a transporter. The Lansing city ordinance permits 28 retail locations in total.
Some of the communities that currently forbid cannabis stores are likely to allow cannabis them to open once they have developed the correct local ordinances.
The Marijuana Regulatory Agency approved 24 new recreational marijuana business licenses in January. That is down from 32 in December, but it declined 19 recreational applications.
Medical marijuana sales reached $25.2 million in Michigan during January. The price of medical cannabis increased from $267 per ounce in December to $276 in January.
There are now 267,068 patients registered with the state’s medical marijuana program, along with 36,136. Chronic pain accounts for more than half of prescriptions, and arthritis is the second most common qualifying condition. There are 440 physicians registered to write prescriptions for marijuana.
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