Officials in at least six states with legal marijuana—Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri and New York—reported hitting their highest-ever monthly sales numbers in August, led by surging summer purchases of adult-use products.

Retailers in Michigan sold $294.2 million in legal cannabis last month, according to data from the state’s Cannabis Regulatory Agency. Combined with $1.26 million in medical products, stores tallied $295.4 million in total sales—the most ever recorded in the state.

In Missouri, meanwhile, the state notched $126.15 million in total sales in August, which includes record adult-use purchases of $110 million. Medical marijuana purchases in the state, however, have generally fallen over the course of the past year, reaching just $15.15 million last month, according to the Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services (DHSS).

The combined amount nevertheless represents the second-highest monthly marijuana sales amount in Missouri history.

In Connecticut, August’s total combined medical and adult-use sales hit $25.6 million, according to the Department of Health and Human Services—also a new monthly record. The figure includes a most-ever $17.9 million worth of adult-use products and another $7.6 million in medical marijuana.

As for Maine, sales of recreational marijuana in August reached $23.95 million—besting the record $22.91 million set in July, according to the state’s Office of Cannabis Policy. Figures from the state’s medical marijuana market have not yet been released.

Sales of all product form factors—including “usable cannabis,” concentrates and infused products—rose between July and August, Maine officisls reported. And the average price per gram of cannabis in Maine last month was $7.21—slightly below the average so far this year of $7.27 per gram.

In Maryland, meanwhile, adult-use purchases reached a record $73 million, according to the Maryland Cannabis Administration. Combined with roughly $27 million in medical sales, total legal sales for August amounted to $100.62 million—a new overall record.

Prices in Maryland were slightly higher for marijuana flower than in Maine, with the median price per gram for the year sitting at $9.64.

And finally, in New York, officials said during a meeting this week indicated that state-licensed retailers had sold approximately $97.8 million during the month—significantly more than the previous monthly record of $74.1 million set in June.

Meanwhile Ohio, which launched its adult-use marijuana market in early August, saw $22.5 million worth of products sold during the first 11 days of legal sales. Early reports show the state on track to surpass $1 billion in combined medical and adult-use marijuana sales within the first year of the recreational market implementation.

The surge in sales across multiple U.S. states comes about half a year after the last broad boost to retail sales, which was seen in several states last December, including in Connecticut, Illinois, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Mexico and Rhode Island.

Earlier this month, a separate report from Bloomberg Intelligence projected that increased consumer access to legal marijuana “may extend indefinitely” the slumping sales of wine and spirits, saying that the legalization movement continues to pose a “significant threat” to the dominance of the alcohol industry as people substitute cannabis for drinking.

A multinational investment bank similarly said in a report late last year that marijuana has become a “formidable competitor” to alcohol, projecting that nearly 20 million more people will regularly consume cannabis over the next five years as booze loses a couple million drinkers. It also says marijuana sales are estimated to reach $37 billion in 2027 in the U.S. as more state markets come online.

Another study out of Canada, where marijuana is federally legal, found that legalization was “associated with a decline in beer sales,” suggesting a substitution effect.

The analyses comport with other recent survey data that more broadly looked at American views on marijuana versus alcohol. For example, a Gallup survey from last month found that respondents view cannabis as less harmful than alcohol, tobacco and nicotine vapes—and more adults now smoke cannabis than smoke cigarettes.

A separate survey released by the American Psychiatric Association (APA) and Morning Consult last June also found that Americans consider marijuana to be significantly less dangerous than cigarettes, alcohol and opioids—and they say cannabis is less addictive than each of those substances, as well as technology.

Additionally, a poll released in July found that more Americans smoke marijuana on a daily basis than drink alcohol every day—and that alcohol drinkers are more likely to say they would benefit from limiting their use than cannabis consumers are.

Similarly, a separate study published in May in the journal Addiction that similarly found that there are more U.S. adults who use marijuana daily than who drink alcohol every day.

Another poll released last month found that marijuana use is one of the only crimes that a majority of Americans say is punished too harshly—and bipartisan majorities also back expunging prior cannabis convictions.

Ben Adlin via (https://www.marijuanamoment.net/six-u-s-states-report-setting-new-monthly-marijuana-sales-records/)

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