In a year that will go down in history as one of the quietest for state-level marijuana market launches in the U.S., Ohio’s adult-use market stood out with the only launch of 2024. Ohio debuted its recreational cannabis market on August 6, making it the only state to unveil a new cannabis market in the U.S. this year. This marks a significant departure from a young industry that has gone through non-stop market expansion for more than 10 years.
Unfortunately, Ohio’s recreational marijuana market launch wasn’t as successful as previous launches. The state recorded a sales dip right after it launched its adult-use market, something that usually happens in the first year of sales, not the first month. Ohio registered $44.1 million worth of cannabis sales in the first week, followed by $43.1 million in the second week, $56.2 million in week three, and $48.0 million in the fourth week.
Cannabis has been the fastest-growing sector in the U.S. job market for several years, with several states launching new cannabis markets annually and raking in tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dollars from cannabis sales. However, the market’s constant expansion seems to have come to a halt.
There were three new recreational market launches and one medical cannabis launch in 2023 and 2024 saw the launch of just one market, Ohio’s recreational marijuana market. Ohio is now the 21st state in the U.S. to launch adult-use cannabis sales after Maryland launched its recreational market in July 2023 and Missouri in February 2023. With that, several more million Americans now have access to recreational cannabis.
The one year between the launch of Maryland’s adult-use cannabis market in mid-2023 and Ohio’s recent launch represents the longest period of zero launches since Americans first gained access to recreational marijuana in 2014. According to Marijuana Policy Project state policies director Karen O’Keefe, progress in the adult-use cannabis space has been held back by limited funding in the non-profit advocacy space.
According to O’Keefe, efforts to legalize cannabis in South Dakota, New Hampshire and Hawaii in 2024 would have had higher chances of success if the campaigns had ‘adequate resources.’ Georgia was the last state to launch a medical marijuana market in October 2023 and it seems 2024 will close with no new medical cannabis market launches.
In the meantime, states with cannabis markets, such as New York and Florida, are increasing their retail licenses significantly to cater to the large demand for cannabis. However, the New York Cannabis Advisory Board (CAB) recently recommended a cap on retail marijuana licenses to prevent market oversaturation and keep prices stable.
For companies like Verano Holdings Corp. (CSE: VRNO) (OTCQX: VRNOF) that could be looking for new markets into which to expand, the slowing rate at which new markets are launched could narrow the options available.
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