The first year of recreational cannabis sales in Montana brought in nearly $203 million, including December sales of $25.6 million. Here’s how other states fared.
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Experts predicted strong sales, but these legal marijuana states sales blow expectations. Over the past year, Massachusetts recreational sales totaled $1.42 billion, according to a report from the state’s Cannabis Control Commission. July sales were the highest, amounting to $132.4 million, followed by $130.8 million in cannabis sold in August.
Flower was the product category that was most in demand, followed by vape-related products, pre-rolls and edibles.
Since the legalization of recreational weed sales in November 2018, the Bay State has pulled in $3.9 billion in total gross sales. Medical sales in 2022 totaled $260.2 million, while gross medical cannabis sales reached $929.6 million in December.
Meanwhile, MA officials announced the creation of a new board, charged with overseeing how the state will hand out money from a trust fund that will support members of overpoliced communities who are seeking to run cannabis businesses, reported The Boston Globe.
The Cannabis Social Equity Advisory Board, which consists of five cannabis industry experts, will be guiding the Executive Office of Economic Development in overseeing the trust fund.
The members include:
- Keisha Brice, a former Curaleaf executive who was appointed by former governor Charlie Baker as the board’s chair.
- Chris Fevry, appointed by state treasurer Deborah Goldberg
- Aaron Goines, nominated by Governor Maura Healey in her role as the outgoing attorney general;
- Meaka Brown and Phil Smith were appointed together by Baker, Goldberg and Healey.
NM Rec Sales Strong In December
Marijuana sales have also been skyrocketing in New Mexico, reported the Albuquerque Journal.
According to sales figures provided by the Cannabis Control Division, New Mexico reached another record in December with over $28 million recorded in total marijuana sales, surpassing record October sales by $3 million.
Medical sales grew to $15.1 million, as compared to around $14 million in November.
Andrew Vallejos, the state’s acting director for the CCD, said he was surprised by a significant increase in overall cannabis sales.
RELATED: Medical Weed Sales Hit More Than $200 Million In This State, 36K+ Pounds Sold So Far In 2022
“I don’t know exactly what attributed to the increase in medical and recreational, as a bump up in December, but it was kind of surprising to us to see how robust those numbers were,” he said. “The sales (numbers) are interesting in and of themselves, but what I’m encouraged by is the fact that it means a steady cash flow for (businesses) to stay open and to make a profit.”
New Mexico legalized adult-use cannabis in April 2021 after Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham signed the Cannabis Regulation Act. Some two months later, the law took effect, allowing adults to legally possess, use and grow recreational cannabis, including six plants or up to 12 in a household with more than one adult.
Montana Combined Marijuana Sales Surpass $300M
Meanwhile, the first year of recreational cannabis sales brought in nearly $203 million for Montana, including December sales of $25.6 million.
Combined with medical marijuana sales, a total of $303,563,879 was spent on cannabis over the past year, state revenue department figures showed, reported by KTVH.
“That’s representative of about 40 tons of product in the system in Montana, and that’s all Montana-grown and Montana-processed and sold right here in the state,” said Pepper Petersen, president and CEO of the Montana Cannabis Guild.
RELATED: This State Is On Track To Beat Its $1.3 Billion Record Sales Year
Petersen estimated that the marijuana industry supports over 5,000 jobs statewide.
He said that these figures only show that the market was present for years.
“It just shows that this market has been here,” Petersen continued. “I think that’s what we see, is that we’ve taken from the black market so much and put it into the white market – the legitimate market, as it were, with licensed producers, a very safe product.”
This article originally appeared on Benzigna and has been reposted with permission.
