$1 Million a Day in Michigan Recreational Cannabis Sales
mLive reports that the State of Michigan experienced a record high in weekly sales, nearly $8 million, during the first week of May. Some highlights from an excellent article by Gus Burns:
Since the first recreational sales began on Dec. 1, the industry, now with 106 recreational stores and more than 200 total businesses, has racked up $91 million in sales, which translates to $15.2 million in new tax revenue, between a 6% sales and 10% excise tax.
…“We’ve had to hire staff during this time,” said Brett Stephens, general manager at Freddie’s, a retail store in Clio. “We’ve grown. We’ve seen retail sales go up by 100%.”
Freddies opened as a medical dispensary in August and received its recreational retail license Feb 22, just a couple weeks before the first two coronavirus cases were confirmed in Michigan and the governor issued a state of emergency. “I wasn’t surprised (marijuana was deemed an essential item),” he said. “I was excited they made that distinction.”
…Another quickly growing offering that received a turbo boost by way of the coronavirus pandemic and social distancing rules is delivery service. While there were only a dozen businesses licensed to deliver marijuana as of Feb. 12, that figure had blossomed to 63 as of Tuesday.
…A March 20 report by the Michigan State University Product Center, which aims to improve opportunities in agriculture, said the state marijuana industry “appears to be maturing rapidly.”
Using data from other states that legalized marijuana prior to Michigan, the report forecasts recreational marijuana sales to reach about $3 billion per year, supporting nearly 13,500 jobs “along the marijuana supply chain” when it becomes “widely available.”
Nearly 1,400 cities, townships and villages, including Michigan’s largest city, Detroit, have barred recreational marijuana businesses.
