As 2023 hit its 11th month, sales trends in the Arizona cannabis industry continued a familiar pattern with the adult-use, recreational market more than tripling that of the medical sector.
Recreational sales in November 2023 weighed in at $83.5 million, while medical sales remained flat at about $25 million for the second month in a row, according to the latest report from the Arizona Department of Revenue.
The medical market dropped below $40 million in July 2022, trending downward to $30.4 million in May 2023. Since then, sales have not passed that mark and have hovered around $25 million.
Medical sales have declined consistently since a peak of $73.4 million in April 2021. Medical sales dropped to new lows seemingly every month.
Recreational sales, which began in late January 2021 after voters legalized sales in November 2020, have fluctuated between $80 million and $93.5 million since July 2022. Since then, they hit a high-water mark of $100 million in March 2023 and have since leveled out to the mid- to lower-$80 million range.
Through November 2023, medical cannabis sales for the year totaled more than $320.5 million and Arizonans purchased more than $978.1 million in recreational, for a total of nearly $1.3 billion.
Since January 2021, the cannabis industry has generated more than $4.2 billion in sales, with about $2.6 billion from recreational customers. Should the current trend continue, cannabis sales in 2023 should easily match the $1.4 billion total in 2022.
The state collects a 16% excise tax on recreational sales in addition to the standard sales tax; medical patients pay roughly 6% in state sales tax. Local jurisdictions charge an additional 2% or so for all marijuana sales.
In November 2023, the excise tax on adult-use marijuana sales yielded about $13.3 million, with medical bringing about $2 million into state coffers.
One-third of revenue raised by the recreational excise tax is dedicated to community college and provisional community college districts; 31% to public safety, including police, fire departments, fire districts and first responders; 25% to the Arizona Highway User Revenue Fund; and 10% to the justice reinvestment fund. That fund is dedicated to providing public health services, counseling, job training and other social services for communities that have been adversely affected and disproportionately impacted by marijuana arrests and criminalization.
The Arizona Department of Health Services has reported a steady decline in the medical cannabis program participation, as the number of qualifying patients continues to drop every month.
As of January, there were 113,694 qualifying patient cardholders, down from 115,914 in December 2023. At the height of the medical market, there were 299,054 qualifying patients prior to the advent of recreational sales.
In January, Arizona medical cannabis consumers purchased 4,100 pounds of marijuana in various forms, down from 4,636 reported in December 2023. Throughout 2023, Arizona medical marijuana patients purchased 65,596 pounds.
This story was first published by Arizona Mirror, which is part of States Newsroom, a network of news bureaus supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Follow Arizona Mirror on Facebook and Twitter.
