Recreational cannabis sales surpassed $10 million in Maine first time ever in the month of August, ever since marking the adult-use marijuana stores were opened in October 2020.
Although August’s sales rise was less dramatic than July’s 45 percent gain over June’s, it’s also the first time the cannabis sector has recorded sales figures exceeding $10 million after the adult-use market opened last October in Maine.
This past month, Maine’s 53 adult-use marijuana stores took in approximately $10.2 million in pot sales, according to the state’s Office of Marijuana Policy. This amounts to approximately $1 million in tax income for the state, with a populace of only 1.3 million people.
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Since the market opened just under a year ago, recreational marijuana sales in Maine have gradually increased, with merchants selling approximately $1.1 million during first month and breaking new records every month following that.
August set a new record for pot sales, with 133,969 transactions, although it was only marginally more than July, when the state saw $9.4 million in recreational sales. Medicinal marijuana sales, which are monitored independently, are not included in those statistics.
Last year, the state’s medicinal cannabis industry brought in $250 million in revenue.
When it launched in October 2020 after years of setbacks, the adult-use market has recorded approximately $48.9 million in sales, giving the state about $5 million income from sales tax.
Summer tourists, according to the Portland Press Herald, is to be thanked for the increase in purchases.
However, similar patterns have been seen in states throughout the U.S. in recent years. Despite the coronavirus pandemic, cannabis sales records have been regularly smashed since last year.
Consumers are continuing to notice greater choice and cheaper pricing on the shelves, thanks to 53 marijuana shops, 24 production facilities, and 47 cultivation areas. That pattern is unlikely to alter very soon, since the state now has 185 storefronts, 81 production facilities, and 175 cultivation sites awaiting permission.
Nelson Analytical, Nova Analytical Labs, and Catlab LLC are the three approved cannabis testing laboratories in Maine.
Two more facilities may be joining them shortly. Both Indicative Testing LLC and MCR Labs, which now has facilities in Massachusetts and Pennsylvania, are in the midst of obtaining their testing licenses approved.
Smokable cannabis, often known as flower, continues to dominate sales, accounting for approximately 59 percent of total income in the three months ending Aug.
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In the same month, a typical user spent approximately $76 per transaction, a pattern that has been fairly constant since the beginning of the year.
Similar Recreational Cannabis Sales trend in other states
Illinois’ adult-use cannabis revenues topped $120 million in August, according to state authorities. It’s the state’s second biggest monthly sales total since the recreational market opened last year, and it’s the sixth straight month where sales have exceeded $100 million.
California earned $817 million in recreational marijuana tax income in the fiscal year 2020-2021, according to state authorities. That’s a 55 percent increase in cannabis revenue for state treasury over the previous financial year.
State authorities recently announced on a new website that Arizona took in approximately $21 million in medicinal and recreational marijuana tax income in July.
