Michigan December cannabis sales totaled $279.9 million, up 7.5 percent from November and 26.2 percent from December 2022, the Cannabis Regulatory Agency reported. For calendar year 2023, cannabis sales generated $3.08 billion.
Considering the average cost of an ounce of marijuana plummeted to $80.16 in January 2023, a steep decline from over $500 in 2020, topping $3 billion in sales demonstrates the strength of cannabis demand in Michigan.
In what has become a highly competitive landscape, triggering a dramatic market consolidation and price collapse, Michigan still has more than 2,100 active adult-use licenses, including 1,050 grower and 734 retailer licenses.
Cannabis revenue also topped the State House Fiscal Agency report published last week, even faster than alcohol.
Adult-use sales in December grew 32.8 percent from December 2022 to a record $276.7 million, an increase of nearly 8 percent from November. On the flip side, Medical Marijuana sales only generated $3.2 million, down 15.8 percent from November, and 76.2 percent from November 2022.
The marijuana excise tax brought in more money for the state last fiscal year than alcohol taxes, which contributed about $192.6 million total — $46.6 million from beer and wine and $146 million from liquor, Benzinga reported. In fiscal 2021–22 combined alcohol taxes generated nearly $13 million more revenue than cannabis.
By contrast, marijuana revenue amounted to less than half of the $722.2 million Michigan made from tobacco taxes in the most recent fiscal year, noted Marijuana Moment.
In October 2023 alone, the marijuana excise tax produced $52.4 million in tax revenue—more than any other single source aside from sales and use taxes, income taxes, insurance taxes and tobacco taxes.
This story was compiled by Editor Mike Brennan