With Ohio Legal Cannabis Sales Firing Up, Has Michigan Sales Plateaued?

LANSING — Has Michigan hit its weed ceiling? Michigan recently hit a high water mark: More marijuana sold than California, according to MJBizDaily, a cannabis business news outlet.

California has long been the legal weed king and has nearly four times Michigan’s population.

Yet Michigan has three times more sales per person than California, the runner-up, and Michigan is selling eight million more units of marijuana products a month than California, according to state agency and Headset private data analyzed by MJBizDaily this summer.

The sunshine state remains, however, the largest market in dollar terms at around $350 million a month, compared to Michigan’s $287 million, in part because of Michigan’s relatively low prices.

In August, Michigan racked up $295.5 million in adult-use and medical sales, versus about $54 million for Ohio in its first month of legal purchases. 

But those in the weed-growing business wonder if Michigan is becoming a dumping ground for cheap marijuana that may not be up to snuff.

“We created one of the biggest markets,” said David Murray, CEO of Redbud Roots, a cultivator, producer and dispensary based in Buchanan, near the Indiana border. “We need to take an honest look and do what’s good for the industry.”

Along with several other marijuana industry business owners and workers, Murray came to a Wednesday meeting in Lansing of the Cannabis Regulatory Agency, where he asked for more and quicker enforcement from the state agency’s regulators.

Murray said better enforcement would keep the quality higher and increase safety for customers.

Marijuana big deal to state budget

Michigan’s marijuana tax revenues are a bigger deal to the state’s budget than in most marijuana-legal states.

Michigan’s marijuana taxes account for about 0.75% of the state budget. Five states have a higher percentage. Washington, Montana, Alaska and Colorado all get more than 1% of their state budget from marijuana taxes. Oregon gets 0.77%, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.

Ohio moves into marijuana market

The billboards near the border keep begging Ohio drivers to come and buy Michigan weed.

However, Ohio’s recreational marijuana sales began in August, and could catch up to Michigan.

The state’s Cannabis Regulatory Agency does not track out-of-state sales, said David Harns, a spokesperson for the agency. He said the agency would not comment on what the Ohio legalization is expected to mean for Michigan.

The Ohio legalization likely won’t affect Michigan’s numbers for several years because the initial price of marijuana in a legalized state is typically far higher than a mature state, Murray said.

Prices in Ohio are currently around $250 an ounce for flower, about three times the Michigan average.

State of the medical marijuana market

Medical marijuana in Michigan has nearly completely collapsed.

Once the bulk of legal marijuana sales, the market has continually shrunk, for 29 months straight, said Brian Hanna, executive director of the state’s Cannabis Regulatory Agency.

Medical sales peaked at $48 million in April 2021 and there were still $6.6 million in medical marijuana sales a year ago but there was $1.3 million of medical marijuana sold in July across the state.

Some of the decline in medical sales is due to the processes and licensing, while recreational users can simply show up at a store without seeing a medical professional first.

Read more at MSN.