Maryland’s marijuana market achieved another milestone last month, with retailers notching almost $92 million in sales, marking the state’s second month of recreational cannabis sales. This surge represents a significant leap from July’s $87 million, illustrating the transformative impact of expanding cannabis access beyond the medical sector, more than doubling prior sales figures.
Data recently released by the state’s cannabis regulator, MCA, indicates that legal dispensaries tallied sales exceeding $91.7 million. Smokeable flower sales were in the lead at $55.1 million, followed by concentrates at $24.7 million, while infused edibles and nonedibles contributed $6.2 million and $5.2 million, respectively. Trim or shake products brought in $512,991, with marijuana plants contributing $9,588.
July saw a surge in marijuana sales, coinciding with the enactment of a law allowing the state’s medical stores to serve all adults aged 21 years and older. The opening weekend of this transition resulted in an impressive $10 million in cannabis product sales.
Multistate operators (MSOs) have emerged as prominent players in Maryland’s cannabis market, with companies such as Ascend, GTI, Verona and Curaleaf reporting the highest sales figures for the past month.
Later this year, Maryland officials will start taking applications for social-justice cannabis company licenses. The Social Equity Verification Portal, which MCA unveiled last week, will start letting potential applicants determine whether they qualify for the new licenses this week. Equity candidates will be the only ones eligible for the initial round of new cannabis grower, processor, and store licenses.
Maryland levies a 9% sales tax on cannabis for adult use; medical sales are excluded. This indicates that the policy change has already resulted in a few million dollars entering the state’s coffers.
A prohibitionist organization, Smart Approaches to Marijuana, has criticized the state’s management of tax collection. The group alleges that the state’s Office of the Comptroller was actively working to defend banks that were breaking the law.
The accusation was made following the publication of remarks made by Rob Scheerer, director of the Revenue Administration Division of the Maryland Office of the Comptroller, during a Maryland Association of Counties conference last month. Scheerer stated that to safeguard banks, the term “cannabis” could not be used on tax returns, instead employing the term “a sale subject to the 9% rate under SB516 of 2023.”
Both the Office of the Comptroller and Wells Fargo, its banking partner, have asserted that they adhere to the law.
The surging sales in Maryland suggest that the companies operating within that market could see the kind of success that enterprises such as Curaleaf Holdings Inc. (CSE: CURA) (OTCQX: CURLF) have enjoyed in the markets in which they operate.
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