This story was republished with permission from Crain’s Cleveland Business.
Ohio’s legal cannabis industry has generated $656.4 million in marijuana sales in the eight months since the state’s adult-use program launched in early August.
That figure represents retail sales recorded by the Ohio Division of Cannabis Control from Aug. 6, when recreational marijuana was first sold in the state by licensed dispensaries, through April 5.
Comprising that total is about $434.2 million in recreational sales and approximately $222.2 million in medical.
That means that at eight months into the availability of recreational marijuana, adult-use composes about 66% of Ohio’s legal cannabis market.
This comes on the heels of the March sales month, which saw approximately $57.5 million and $21.5 million in rec and medical sales, respectively, or more than $79 million in total between March 2 and March 29 (the state’s reporting periods don’t begin and end neatly with calendar dates).
That activity compares relatively closely with the February sales period — specifically Feb. 2 through March 1 — which included approximately $55.7 million and $22.2 million in rec and medical sales, respectively, or more than $77.8 million in total.
The market has continued to grow in line with retail prices steadily decreasing since last August.
During the first week of adult-use sales in August, the average price of cannabis flower was $26.59 per one-tenth of an ounce and $9.40 per gram, according to DCC. Manufactured products cost an average of $31.06.
Between the week of March 30 through April 5, prices on average for cannabis flower stood at $19.77 per one-tenth of an ounce — a nearly 26% decrease since early August — and $6.99 per gram. Manufactured products cost $28.57 on average.
Legal cannabis was first sold in Ohio under the medical program in January 2019. Since then, the state has generated more than $2.5 billion in marijuana sales.
And while the market continues to grow at a good clip, the industry is operating at a fraction of the size of neighboring Michigan. Of course, that market is grappling with some challenging industry dynamics, including an oversupply of product and business licenses. Those factors have been contributing to business failures and the lowest prices for legal cannabis in the country.
According to data from Michigan’s Cannabis Regulatory Agency, the average retail price for flower in that state had cratered to $85.55 per ounce in March.
Nonetheless, Michigan has generated just shy of $2 billion in licensed cannabis sales in just the first three months of this year.
That’s a stark contrast to Ohio, where cannabis sales topped $2.5 billion in six years and four months.
Ohio’s legal cannabis industry is clearly losing an unknown chunk of business to Michigan as consumers here cross the border for cheap products.
The Drug Enforcement Policy Center at the Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law noted this in its 2024 cannabis customer survey and analysis of the medical marijuana program. In that, 9% of respondents said that they were exclusively going to dispensaries in other states for medical marijuana, and 34% said they do that some of the time.
[[{“value”:”Ohio’s legal cannabis industry has generated $656.4 million in sales in eight months.
The post Recreational cannabis continues to fuel Ohio sales numbers appeared first on Green Market Report.”}]] Read More
