On Wednesday, the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) released a new report on tax revenue generated from state-legal, adult-use marijuana sales.
The report found that through the first quarter of 2024, states have reported a combined total of more than $20 billion in tax revenue from legal, adult-use cannabis sales. In 2023 alone, legalization states generated more than $4 billion in cannabis tax revenue from adult-use sales, which is the most revenue generated by cannabis sales in a single year.
“State-legal cannabis sales continue to provide significant economic benefits. With over $20 billion generated in adult-use cannabis tax revenue since the first sales began, the legal cannabis industry is providing much-needed funding for crucial services and programs in states across the country. Additionally, the implementation of adult-use cannabis markets has spurred significant job growth, creating hundreds of thousands of new employment opportunities, along with thousands of new small businesses,” said Karen O’Keefe, director of state policies at the Marijuana Policy Project.
Twenty-four states have legalized cannabis possession for adults 21 and older. All but one of them — Virginia — have also legalized, regulated, and taxed cannabis sales. In two legalization states — Delaware and Ohio — sales have not begun yet.
MPP’s report reviews each legalization state’s adult-use cannabis tax structure, population, and year-by-year adult-use cannabis tax revenue. The full report is available here. These figures include cannabis excise taxes and states’ standard sales taxes that are applied to cannabis. They do not include medical cannabis tax revenue.
State Breakdown of Tax Revenue Generated from Legal, Adult-Use Cannabis Sales in 2023:
- Alaska: $28,097,114
- Arizona: $257,929,322
- California: $1,082,452,368
- Colorado: $256,756,467
- Connecticut: $24,613,367
- Illinois: $552,166,729
- Maine: $35,593,347
- Maryland: approximately $29,880,000
- Massachusetts: $263,488,752
- Michigan: $473,303,560
- Missouri: $105,941,225
- Montana: $51,636,106
- Nevada: $178,135,259
- New Jersey: $45,083,223
- New Mexico: $67,440,312
- New York: approximately $21,000,000
- Rhode Island: $12,621,982
- Oregon: $148,133,667
- Washington: $532,516,060
- Vermont: $21,642,857
- Overall Total: approximately $4,188,431,717
