Michigan’s legal cannabis industry made nearly $200 million in sales this April, breaking all previous monthly sales records.

All told, the state’s adult-use retailers moved around $168 million worth of legal weed last month, according to the latest monthly report by the state Cannabis Regulatory Agency (CRA). Medical marijuana dispensaries made an additional $27 million in sales, bringing the monthly total to almost $195 million – more than the state has ever recorded in one single month.

“This sales record is despite the fact that the average retail flower price (ounce) dropped from $203.91 in April 2021 to $123.54 in April 2022 for medical sales and from $245.99 to $133.19 for adult-use sales,” explained CRA executive director Andrew Brisbo in a recent social media post.

Adult-use bud may be half as expensive as it was last year, but overall sales have still been growing rapidly. This April’s recreational weed sales were 60 percent higher than the $105 million reported last April. But as the adult-use industry grows, the medical market is shrinking. Last month’s medical cannabis sales were 44 percent lower than the $48 million sold in April 2021.

The state’s adult-use industry has been expanding at a solid pace since sales began in December 2019. According to Brisbo, 119 municipalities have opted-in to the adult-use industry, and 161 municipalities allow medical marijuana sales. Michigan now has 500 licensed adult-use cannabis retailers and 912 additional companies licensed to grow, process, test, and transport recreational weed. The CRA has also licensed 1,285 medical marijuana businesses, including 459 dispensaries.

Last year, Michigan sold a record $1.79 billion worth of legal weed, bringing the state around $250 million in tax revenue. Last month, the state distributed around $100 million worth of this extra income to help fund the state’s public schools and transportation infrastructure. Another $42.2 million worth of tax revenue was divided between municipalities that allow medical or adult-use businesses to operate in their jurisdictions.

Thanks to last year’s record sales, the state was able to give these municipalities four times as much weed tax revenue as they did in 2020. But if the state can keep up its record sales this year, municipalities, schools, and transportation projects will be raking in an even bigger haul in 2022. This April, the state collected around $32.5 million in weed taxes – about an eighth of the total collected in all of 2021.

“April’s record marijuana sales in Michigan resulted in $19.5 million in excise tax revenue invested in roads, schools, and local governments across the state,” said David Harns of the Michigan CRA in a tweet. “In addition, nearly $13 million [was] also collected into the general sales tax bucket. That’s one month.”

Chris Moore via (https://merryjane.com/news/michigan-weed-sales-topped-dollar200-million-in-april-setting-new-all-time-high)

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