Michigan sold $212 million worth of legal weed last month, setting a new all-time monthly sales record for the third time this year.
The Great Lakes State’s adult-use shops sold a whopping $195.3 million worth of legal bud in September, according to a new report by the state Cannabis Regulatory Agency (CRA). As usual, the flower remains the most popular product, accounting for $94.5 million of the monthly total, but vape carts are in at a close second at $39 million. Infused edibles were the third-most-popular product at nearly $22 million, and shake and trim were in fourth place with just over $17 million in sales.
The state’s medical dispensaries also sold 27,972 pounds of dried products and 5,895 ounces of infused liquids, netting $16.6 million in sales last month. Again, flower, vape carts, and edibles were the most popular products, accounting for $8 million, $3.7 million, and $2 million of the monthly total, respectively. Concentrates took fourth place in the medical market, though, leaving shake and trim in fifth place.
This April, 4/20 celebrations helped the state’s legal weed industry set a monthly sales record of $195 million, crushing the previous record of $168 million. Three months later, retailers busted way past that total with a solid $210 million in sales. Sales dipped back a bit in August, but sprang back to life in September, setting a new all-time record of $211.98 million.
These robust sales are helping Michigan become one of the most lucrative legal weed markets in the US. Since opening for business in December 2019, the state’s powerful adult-use industry has sold over $3.34 billion worth of legal weed. The medical marijuana market has sold another $1.48 billion worth of medicine since opening for business, bringing Michigan’s all-time legal cannabis sales up to an eye-watering $4.82 billion.
Michigan’s steadily growing success is in sharp contrast to overall US weed sales, which have been stagnating this year. Adult-use sales in Colorado, Nevada, and Oregon have all fallen by around 15% this year, and medical sales in those states have dropped by more than a third since last year. Michigan is now reporting higher monthly sales than Colorado, but it still has a long way to go to catch up with California, which is still selling over $400 million worth of weed a month.
But although Michigan’s weed industry is making a killing, most of that money is going into the pockets of wealthy, white-owned businesses. According to a survey included in this month’s CRA report, 324 of the 451 adult-use licensees who answered the survey identify as white (72%), and 304 identify as men (67%). Nearly half (43%) of the respondents also said that they make more than $150,000 a year.
Several other adult-use states, including nearby Illinois, use legal weed tax revenue to help fund programs to help communities that have been most heavily impacted by racist prohibition laws. Michigan’s weed tax disbursements focus more on general state improvements rather than social equity issues, though.
Last year, the state used $150 million of its total $250 million cannabis tax revenue to help fund schools, transportation funds, and individual municipalities. State officials also approved an additional $20 million in grants to help fund research into using medical cannabis to treat veterans.
