John Schroyer
Arizona recreational marijuana sales passed the nine-figure mark for the first time in March since the adult-use market launched in January 2021, according to data from the state Department of Revenue.
That month, recreational cannabis sales inched past the threshold for a final tally of $100.7 million, in addition to $32 million in medical marijuana sales.
In April, however, the adult-use market came down a bit and hit only $86.4 million in sales, with $30.2 million in sales on the medicinal side.
The sales trend over the past 2.5 years overall has steadily grown on the recreational market while sales have shrunken noticeably on the medical side. At the end of 2021, the top month for rec sales was December with $73 million, at which point medical sales had already begun to slide downward from a peak of $73 million in April that year.
This year, medical sales haven’t come anywhere close to that amount, thus far topping out at $32 million per month; in 2022, the highest monthly medical sales figure was $58 million.
Recreational marijuana sales figures, by contrast, have continued to balloon over time. The top-grossing month in 2022 was again December, with $93.4 million in sales.
Since January of 2021, Arizona medical dispensaries have sold a total of $1.3 billion in marijuana, while recreational shops have sold just over $2 billion in cannabis.
