The residents of Freetown Christiania, located in Copenhagen, Denmark, recently began to physically dismantle a part of its community where hash has been sold illegally for decades. According to recent reports, residents began removing the cobblestones on “Pusher Street” on April 6 to deter violence and illegal cannabis and hash sales.

Prior to April 6, residents began to ask for help from volunteers to pull up the cobblestone street. Anyone was welcome to participate, and could take home one cobblestone as a souvenir.

Removing cobblestones on Pusher Street was performed as a demonstration of the residents taking back their community and promising to rebuild. In doing this, they will be granted 14.3 million kroner (approximately $1.3 million USD) from the government to fund street renovation. According to AP News, two Christiania children were the first to lift cobblestones from Pusher Street.

“For more than 40 years, Christiania and the illegal sale of drugs out here has been a huge thorn in the side of the established society,” said Danish Justice Minister Peter Hummelgaard. “But now we have reached the point where the Christianians have also had enough of the [criminal] gangs.”

Copenhagen Mayor Sophie Hæstorp Andersen spoke with Reuters about the historic decision. “Pusher Street has to die in order for Christiania to live,” Andersen said. “The crime scene we have seen here has been so violent… we cannot have a Christiania that is dying out because people don’t dare to be here and where we see the local Christianites being threatened by greedy pushers and dealers.”

The future of Pusher Street will include “a new Christiania without the criminal hashish market,” according to a statement from Christiania public housing coordinator Mette Prag, who has called Christiania his home for 37 years.

Another resident who has lived in the enclave for 40 years expressed their interest in removing hash from Christiania’s future. “We don’t want the gangsters anymore. There might be some people selling hashish afterward, but it’s not going to be in the open,” said Hulda Mader.

Most locals are looking forward to Christiania’s new slate. “To me, Pusher Street is actually the least unique, right? It is what I associate with violence, gangs, murder, threats, and everything which are actually antonyms to what Christiania is,” said resident Mathilde Brandstrup.

The government funds will help the community install new water pipes and pavement, while buildings near Pusher Street will also receive renovations. While the overall goal is to transform Christiania into what AP News calls “an integrated part of the Danish capital area,” but will still retail the “free state” spirit that it has long been known for.

Christiania was first established in 1971 by hippies who occupied in former army barracks, and Denmark officials have allowed the unique settlement to remain independent, even though illegal cannabis sales in the area became known worldwide to curious tourists. Originally, residents who founded Christiania didn’t obtain permits to build houses, didn’t pay utility bills, and others could only move into the area if they were related to someone who was a resident. Residents received rights to their land in 2011, when the land (about 84 acres) was sold by the state to a foundation owned by Christianians. Now it’s home to 800 adults (25% of whom are over 60 years old) and 200 children.

Christiania was the focus of Denmark law enforcement starting in 2004, which led to an increase in police raids. While many residents took down their hash sales booths for a time, they soon returned.

However, an increase in violence and gang activity has also concerned both Denmark leaders as well as Christiania residents. In 2021, one individual was shot and killed at the entrance of Pusher Street, followed by another death in 2022 involved a hash seller.

Most recently in August 2023, two masked gunmen open fired within a Christiania building, killing one individual and injuring four others. Mayor Andersen spoke out against the event, and asked tourists to avoid the area. “The spiral of violence at Christiania is deeply worrying,” Andersen said. “The hundreds of thousands of visiting tourists and the many new foreign students who have just moved to Copenhagen to stay away and refrain from buying weed or other drugs at Pusher Street.”

Adult-use cannabis is illegal in Denmark, although medical cannabis is permitted through a limited pilot program that launched in March 2018.

The Danish Parliament’s Health Committee announced in September 2023 that it had destroyed an estimated 320,862 pounds of dried cannabis, all of which came from the medical cannabis program. The government explained that the destroyed product was either “discarded” or “faulty.”

The Denmark medical cannabis program produced a total of 4,656 pounds of medical cannabis in 2019, followed by 14,521 pounds in 2020, and 71,502 pounds in 2021.

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The office of New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham said Tuesday that cannabis consumers “have purchased more than $678.4 million worth of adult-use cannabis products and $331.6 million in medical products since April 1, 2022,” and that, to date, “the state has recorded more than 21 million transactions with $75 million in cannabis excise taxes going to the state general fund and local communities.”

“This is a huge milestone for New Mexico’s cannabis industry,” Lujan Grisham, a Democrat, said in a statement. “Nearly two years after beginning sales, New Mexico is on the map as a premier hub for legal and safe cannabis and the thriving business community that comes with it.”

The $1 billion threshold represents a significant milestone for New Mexico’s legal weed industry, which opened for business in April of 2022. (The state officially legalized adult-use marijuana a year earlier, in 2021, when Lujan Grisham signed into law the Cannabis Regulation Act.)

Almost one year exactly, Lujan Grisham announced that the state had hit $300 million in adult-use pot sales.

“In just one year, hundreds of millions of dollars in economic activity has been generated in communities across the state, the number of businesses continues to increase, and thousands of New Mexicans are employed by this new industry,” Lujan Grisham said at the time. “I’m excited to see what the future holds as we continue to develop an innovative and safe adult-use cannabis industry.”

In that announcement, the governor’s office said that monthly sales “have remained consistent throughout the last year, with March 2023 marking the highest adult-use sales at $32.3 million,” and that, as of March 2023, “more than $27 million in cannabis excise taxes has gone to the state general fund and to local communities.”

“To date, the state has recorded more than 10 million transactions. More data on sales and licenses can be found here,” the office said in a press release at the time.

In Tuesday’s announcement of the $1 billion milestone, the governor’s office said that “Albuquerque remains the top city in the state for cannabis sales with more than $202 million in adult-use products being sold since legalization,” while “Sunland Park, one of the many communities that has been positively impacted by cannabis tourism, recorded $57.4 million in adult-use sales.”

It isn’t a surprise that Albuquerque, New Mexico’s largest city, would boast the highest sales tallies. The city reportedly has more cannabis dispensaries than it does liquor stores.

Tuesday’s press release from the governor’s office indicated that smaller communities in New Mexico “are also reaping the benefits of the flourishing cannabis industry.”

“Municipalities like Las Vegas, Silver City, and Deming have each seen more than $5 million in adult-use sales since April 2022,” the press release said. “As of March 1, 2024, the state has issued 2,873 cannabis licenses across New Mexico, including 1,050 retailers, 878 manufacturers, and 459 micro producers.”

Lujan Grisham’s signing of the Cannabis Regulation Act in 2021 made New Mexico the 18th state to legalize adult-use marijuana.

“The legalization of adult-use cannabis paves the way for the creation of a new economic driver in our state with the promise of creating thousands of good paying jobs for years to come,” Lujan Grisham said at the time. “We are going to increase consumer safety by creating a bona fide industry. We’re going to start righting past wrongs of this country’s failed war on drugs. And we’re going to break new ground in an industry that may well transform New Mexico’s economic future for the better.”

Her office projected that “sales of adult-use recreational cannabis could amount to $318 million in the first year, creating over several years what could be more than 11,000 new jobs,” and pointed to preliminary estimates that suggested “the excise tax will raise at least $20 million for the general fund in the first full fiscal year, with significant growth in subsequent years.”

“As we look to rebound from the economic downturn caused by the pandemic, entrepreneurs will benefit from this great opportunity to create lucrative new enterprises, the state and local governments will benefit from the added revenue and, importantly, workers will benefit from the chance to land new types of jobs and build careers,” the governor added then.

“This legislation is a major, major step forward for our state,” she continued. “Legalized adult-use cannabis is going to change the way we think about New Mexico for the better – our workforce, our economy, our future. We’re ready to break new ground. We’re ready to invest in ourselves and the limitless potential of New Mexicans. And we’re ready to get to work in making this industry a successful one.”

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The Minnesota House of Representatives this week passed a bill to legalize cannabis for adults and establish a regulatory system for recreational marijuana production and sales. The bill, House File 100, passed by a vote of 71-59 on Tuesday and will now head to the state Senate for consideration.

All but one of the representatives from the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) Party were joined by two Republicans to vote in favor of the bill on Tuesday. Prior to debate on the measure the day before, DFL Representative Zack Stephenson said that decades of cannabis prohibition have not worked to make the state safer.

“It’s time,” Stephenson said at a press conference on Monday. “Minnesotans deserve the freedom and respect to make responsible decisions about cannabis themselves.”

House File 100 would permit adults aged 21 and older to possess up to two ounces of cannabis flower in a public place and up to 1.5 pounds at a private residence. The bill also allows home cultivation, with a cap of eight cannabis plants including up to four flowering plants. Adults would also be permitted to possess up to eight grams of cannabis concentrates and marijuana edibles infused with up to 800 milligrams of THC. The legislation also legalizes the consumption of cannabis in a private area and permits adults to gift cannabis to another adult up to the public possession limit.

“Minnesotans have told us loud and clear that prohibition is the problem, not cannabis,” said DFL Representative Jessica Hanson. “And that they expect us to bring an end to the sinister days of prohibition and create a safe, legal, regulated market that promotes equity and reparation for our errors of the past.”

The legislation also includes measures to legalize the production and sale of adult-use cannabis. An Office of Cannabis Management would be created to oversee the licensing and regulation of cannabis cultivators, processors, distributors and retailers. A tax rate of 8% would be levied on cannabis products in addition to state and local sales taxes. The bill also expunges past convictions for low-level marijuana offenses and contains social equity provisions to provide grants to individuals entering the regulated cannabis industry.

Bill Faced Republican Opposition in Minnesota

The bill faced strong opposition from Republicans in the House who said that communities that do not want marijuana businesses will be forced to allow retail dispensaries in their jurisdictions.

“We’re gonna say, ‘You know what? Stick this bill in your pipe and smoke it and take it because we know best,’” said Republican Representative Chris Swedzinski. “That’s what you’re telling these small towns to do with this bill. We’re gonna stick it down your throat and you’re gonna like it. And if you don’t like it and you say, ‘Fly a kite, state Legislature.’ We’re going to open you up to litigation.”

Republican Representative Kristin Robbins said that the bill does not include provisions to allow local governments to set licensing fees or adopt additional regulations on cannabis businesses.

“Cities want the ability to regulate the number of licenses in their jurisdiction,” Robbins said, adding that she would like to see provisions that allow local governments to revoke licenses held by problematic businesses.

The Senate version of the bill includes provisions that allow local governments to set a cap on the number of licenses. But supporters of the House bill noted that other states that have included local control over licensing have seen significant challenges in establishing a viable regulated cannabis economy.

“States that have allowed opt outs, that’s where the illicit market continues to thrive and grow,” Stephenson said. “We need to have a uniform set of cannabis standards across the state to make sure that we’re doing the best we can to curb the illicit marketplace and move to a legitimate marketplace with consumer protections and controls.”

If passed by the state Senate and signed into law by Democratic Governor Tim Walz, Minnesota would become the 23rd state in the nation to end the prohibition on cannabis. Krissy Atterholt, an associate attorney at cannabis and psychedelics law firm Vicente LLP, noted that Minnesota’s licensed cannabis retailers will likely have the opportunity to serve consumers from several Midwestern states.

“Minnesota is one step closer to providing residents safe, regulated access to legalized adult-use cannabis,” Atterholt wrote in an email to High Times. “The state is progressing toward becoming the next great cannabis opportunity in the Midwest. Not a single state sharing a border with Minnesota has enacted adult-use cannabis opportunities, leaving the market wide open for businesses and consumers.” 

House File 100 now heads to the state Senate, where debate on the measure is scheduled for Friday. Stephenson has said he is confident the bill will also succeed in the upper chamber of the Minnesota legislature.

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City leaders in Solvang, California on Monday punted on a decision over whether or not to permit recreational cannabis sales in their jurisdiction. 

The Santa Maria Times reports that members of the city council in Solvang, which is located about 130 miles up the coast from Los Angeles, “voted 3-2 to seek further law enforcement input before considering an update to city code that would allow recreational use cannabis sales within city limits.”

“It sounds to me that the cannabis is ubiquitous. It’s everywhere. It’s not whether we’re going to allow it. It’s allowed. It’s whether we’re going to agree to enable a retail location in our city. That’s what we’re deciding,” said city council member Elizabeth Orona, as quoted by the Santa Maria Times.

Although voters in California approved a measure in 2016 legalizing recreational cannabis use and sales in the state, Solvang opted out.

In 2018, the city council there approved an ordinance banning the sale of recreational cannabis. 

Medical cannabis, which has been legal statewide in California since voters there legalized in 1996, is permitted in Solvang. 

The city council in Solvang “adopted an ordinance [in 2018] allowing medicinal cannabis retail sales in the city to anyone holding a cannabis card,” according to the Santa Maria Times, although the “number and location of medical cannabis facilities were restricted, and requirements for operation were delineated including security measure requirements, and a local tax rate of 5% to 10%.”

Some members of the Solvang City Council objected to the delay, arguing that it is time for the city to start collecting tax revenue from cannabis sales that has been lost to neighbroing communities where recreational cannabis sales are permitted.

“I’m not a big fan of pot. I wasn’t when it was medicinal. But the voters approved this in 2016. … As long as people are going from Solvang to Lompoc to get this, then Solvang is losing out on the tax dollar,” council member Robert Clarke said, as quoted by the Santa Maria Times.

Council member Claudia Orona, meanwhile, contended that pot should not be treated differently than other vices.

“I always find it interesting that people will bring up health and safety issues with cannabis, but they never bring that up when another wine tasting room or another bar is opening,” Orona said, as quoted by the newspaper.

“This is not a matter of cannabis being available in our community. It is available widely by either people traveling to dispensaries or going on websites and apps and ordering and getting it (delivered) to home,” Orona added.

California’s legal cannabis industry has fallen on hard times, as the illicit market continues to chew into sales, leading to falling tax revenue.

In September, the state’s governor, Gavin Newsom, signed a bill intended to expand the legal cannabis market, by creating “a process for California to enter into agreements with other states to allow cannabis transactions with entities outside California.”

The governor’s office said at the time that, as part of the 2022 budget, Newsom also “signed legislation to provide tax relief to consumers and the cannabis industry; support equity businesses; strengthen enforcement tools against illegal cannabis operators; bolster worker protections; expand access to legal retail; and protect youth, environmental and public safety programs funded by cannabis tax revenue.”

“For too many Californians, the promise of cannabis legalization remains out of reach,” said Newsom. “These measures build on the important strides our state has made toward this goal, but much work remains to build an equitable, safe and sustainable legal cannabis industry. I look forward to partnering with the Legislature and policymakers to fully realize cannabis legalization in communities across California.”

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Legal marijuana sales in Connecticut are barely a week old, but lawmakers there are already mulling changes to the new law.

CTPost reports that the opening days of the state’s legislative session have proposed a slate of new regulations over the cannabis program, including “changes to how the state issues cannabis licenses to efforts to further decriminalize the drug and increase safety labeling requirements.” 

The proposals, the outlet noted, “have varying chances of successfully becoming law.”

CTPost has more on the various proposals being floated by Connecticut lawmakers: 

“House Majority Leader Jason Rojas, D-East Hartford, is proposing changes to the application fees for various cannabis licenses. Instead of a flat rate, application fees would be on a graduated scale and an applicant would have to pay more to submit a higher number of applications. The proposal is aimed at addressing the number of applicants who paid hundreds of thousands of dollars in application fees to improve their chances of winning a license through the lottery. Application fees vary depending on license type and whether the applicant qualifies for social equity status or not. Social equity applicants pay lower fees than non-equity applicants. Another bill introduced by Rojas would allow cannabis businesses to deduct certain expenses from their state tax returns. Several states in recent years have moved to allow cannabis companies to write off expenses on their state tax bills even though the drug is still federally prohibited. Supporters of the proposal said it would enable operators in the marijuana industry to be treated the same as most other businesses, which can write off expenses such as rent, salaries and wages, and advertising costs on their state tax returns.”

According to CTPost, a legislative committee “plans to look at further regulation of cannabis, whether to provide hemp farmers with an expedited pathway to grow recreational cannabis, and consider recommendations from the Social Equity Council, which is responsible for ensuring equity in Connecticut’s legal cannabis market.”

Legal recreational marijuana sales began last week in Connecticut, as seven established medical cannabis dispensaries in the state entered the adult-use cannabis market. 

The state’s Democratic governor, Ned Lamont, signed a bill in 2021 that legalized recreational pot for adults in Connecticut. 

“That’s why I introduced a bill and worked hard with our partners in the legislature and other stakeholders to create a comprehensive framework for a securely regulated market that prioritizes public health, public safety, social justice, and equity. It will help eliminate the dangerous unregulated market and support a new, growing sector of our economy which will create jobs,” Lamont said after signing the bill into law. “By allowing adults to possess cannabis, regulating its sale and content, training police officers in the latest techniques of detecting and preventing impaired driving, and expunging the criminal records of people with certain cannabis crimes, we’re not only effectively modernizing our laws and addressing inequities, we’re keeping Connecticut economically competitive with our neighboring states.” 

Last month, Lamont announced that approximately 44,000 individuals in Connecticut would have their low-level marijuana convictions expunged from their records at the start of the new year.

“On January 1, thousands of people in Connecticut will have low-level cannabis convictions automatically erased due to the cannabis legalization bill we enacted last year,” Lamont said in a statement at the time. “Especially as Connecticut employers seek to fill hundreds of thousands of job openings, an old conviction for low-level cannabis possession should not hold someone back from pursuing their career, housing, professional, and educational aspirations.”

Lamont was elected to a second term in November’s election.

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There is a Grand Canyon-sized gulf between medical cannabis and recreational marijuana in Arizona. Sales of medical marijuana continue to decline, while adult-use pot sales are climbing. 

The latest figures to be released by the Arizona Department of Revenue found that taxable medical cannabis sales totaled $31.3 million for October, representing the eighth consecutive month of decline.

Adult-use cannabis sales, on the other hand, amounted to $73.8 million in October, a new high for the state’s recreational pot program. 

Those totals mark the continuation of a trend for the Grand Canyon State’s dual cannabis markets. 

Voters in Arizona legalized medical cannabis in 2010, and sales began two years later. Arizona voters likewise approved a proposal legalizing recreational cannabis in 2020, with sales kicking off in January 2021. 

Medical cannabis sales outpaced recreational sales for the first 11 months of 2021.

In December of that year, adult-use marijuana sales totaled $70,317,105, compared with $57,971,859 in sales for medical marijuana that same month. 

Recreational pot sales have exceeded medical sales every month since. 

As the AZ Mirror noted this week, the “crumbling of the medical program follows a pattern other states have seen with medical markets outpaced by recreational sales in the wake of legalization.”

The outlet has more on the divergent sales trends: 

“The state collects 16% excise tax on recreational sales in addition to the standard sales tax; medical patients pay roughly 6% in state sales tax, levied as a Transaction Privilege Tax on cannabis outlets. Local jurisdictions charge an additional 2% or so for all marijuana sales. One-third of recreational taxes collected are dedicated to community college and provisional community college districts; 31% to public safety — police, fire departments, fire districts, first responders — 25% to the Arizona Highway User Revenue Fund, and 10% to the justice reinvestment fund, 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 medical market has continued to bleed both sales and participants, following a trend in some states that have legalized adult-use cannabis years after establishing medical cannabis markets.”

Arizona was one of four states in 2020 where voters approved measures legalizing recreational marijuana sales (Montana, New Jersey and South Dakota were the other three).

The measure, Proposition 207, required the state to “promote the ownership and operation of marijuana establishments and marijuana testing facilities by individuals from communities disproportionately impacted by the enforcement of previous marijuana laws,” a mandate that, among other things, designated the first two dozen dispensary licenses to individuals hailing from communities that have been affected by the War on Drugs.

Arizona’s Department of Health Services required those applicants to participate in classes in order “to ensure that social equity applicants are prepared for the application process and the challenges of running a marijuana business.”

Those classes, per the department, were led by veterans of the cannabis industry, and included “two days of content and education focused on a number of aspects of operating an adult-use marijuana business, including legal requirements, business practices, regulatory compliance, and fundraising, as well as marketing and strategic growth.”

For some prospective marijuana dispensary owners in Arizona, class is now in session. Social equity class, that is. 

It is a provision included in the ballot measure that voters in the state last year legalized recreational pot use for adults. The measure, Proposition 207, called on the state to “promote the ownership and operation of marijuana establishments and marijuana testing facilities by individuals from communities disproportionately impacted by the enforcement of previous marijuana laws.”

What that means in practice: Arizona’s Department of Health Services will award 26 dispensary licenses to individuals from those communities particularly affected by long standing anti-pot laws. 

Per the department: “Social equity license holders will be required to comply with all statutes and rules that govern Adult-Use Marijuana Establishment licenses, including obtaining approval to operate before opening their retail location. Additionally, social equity license holders will be required to develop and implement policies to document how the Marijuana Establishment will provide a benefit to one or more communities disproportionately affected by the enforcement of Arizona’s previous marijuana laws.”

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Regulated sales of recreational marijuana began in Connecticut on Tuesday, less than two years after the state legalized cannabis for use by adults. Adult-use cannabis is now available at seven shops across the state, all of them existing medical marijuana dispensaries that have been licensed as hybrid retailers to serve recreational customers.

Connecticut Governor Ned Lamont signed legislation to legalize recreational marijuana in June 2021, ending the prohibition on possession of cannabis by adults 21 and older and creating a framework for regulated adult-use cannabis sales. The bill also included restorative justice and social equity measures, including provisions that led to the expungement of nearly 43,000 marijuana-related convictions last week. The effort to legalize recreational marijuana in Connecticut was led by Democrats including the governor, who argued that regulating cannabis would protect consumers and help communities impacted by the enforcement of punitive drug laws.

“Today marks a turning point in the injustices caused by the war on drugs, most notably now that there is a legal alternative to the dangerous, unregulated, underground market for cannabis sales,” Lamont said in a statement on Tuesday.

Medical marijuana dispensaries in Branford, Meriden, Montville, New Haven, Newington, Stamford, and Willimantic were expected to open their doors to adult-use cannabis customers beginning at 10 a.m. on Tuesday. Two more, in Danbury and Torrington, are expected to open soon. Up to 40 additional cannabis retailers are expected to begin operations before the end of the year, according to media reports.

Transitioning To A Regulated Cannabis Economy

Adam Wood, president of the Connecticut Cannabis Chamber of Commerce, said that Connecticut’s regulated marijuana industry is expected to create about 10,000 jobs for workers in the state over the next few years. He added that cannabis will generate hundreds of millions of dollars in new revenue that will be used to benefit communities harmed by nearly a century of marijuana prohibition.

“Today is historic, but the real story is about the benefits to come that will transform lives and communities,” Wood said in a statement.

Verano Holdings, a multistate cannabis operator with active operations in 13 states, entered the Connecticut medical marijuana market in 2021 with the acquisition of Connecticut Pharmaceutical Solutions (CT Pharma). The company launched adult-use cannabis sales in the state on Tuesday at its Zen Leaf branded dispensary, formerly Willow Brook Wellness, in the city of Meriden. George Archos, Verano co-founder and CEO, said that the company “is proud to stand alongside Connecticut residents in celebration of the end of cannabis prohibition.”

“Legal cannabis in Connecticut will have a positive impact on the economy and local communities, and we’re honored to celebrate this historic moment in the Constitution State,” Archos wrote in an email to High Times. “We’re grateful for the leadership of Governor Ned Lamont, the Department of Consumer Protection, local communities, our team members, medical cannabis patients and advocates for making this exciting day a reality.”

In addition to the Zen Leaf dispensary in Meriden, Verano’s operations in Connecticut include CT Pharma, a 217,000-square-foot cultivation and processing facility in Rocky Hill, and Caring Nature in Waterbury, a medical dispensary that will soon begin adult-use sales under the Zen Leaf retail brand.

Recreational Weed Purchases Limited To Seven Grams

Sales of recreational marijuana will initially be limited to purchases of up to seven grams (about a quarter of an ounce) of cannabis flower or the equivalent in other products to ensure that retailers have enough merchandise on hand to serve medical marijuana patients. The Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection will monitor supplies of cannabis in the state to determine when purchase caps on adult-use cannabis will be lifted.

The Botanist hybrid recreational and medical marijuana retail shop in Montville is operated by New York-based multistate operator Acreage Holdings. Kate Nelson, senior vice president of the company’s Midwest and Northwest regions, said that she expects the dispensary’s previous customer count of 200 to 300 patients per day to increase by about 150% during the first week of adult-use cannabis sales. But after the initial rush of excitement, sales are expected to level off.

“I think even before the 40 operators come online, you’ll start to see less of that excitement of something new and more so of kind of what the status quo will become,” Nelson said. “We’re in an area now in the country where there’s other adult-use states nearby. So it’s really going to be a focus of ours, in the state of Connecticut specifically, to make sure that this adult-use program has the product that it needs to have and we can support the industry … to make sure Connecticut sets themselves apart from other competing markets.”

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Adult-use cannabis sales soared last year in Maine, nearly doubling the total for 2021.

The local news outlet Masthead Maine, citing data that was released by the Maine Office of Cannabis Policy, reports that the “state’s licensed adult-use retailers reported nearly 2.5 million sale transactions, totaling $158.9 million [in 2022],” which was up from the $82 million of sales generated the year prior.

“(The growth) reflects the significant economic impact that legal cannabis continues to have in the communities that have opted into the system,” said John Hudak, the director of the state’s Office of Cannabis Policy, as quoted by Masthead Maine. “The system is creating jobs, helping revitalize communities, and having a positive economic impact on businesses that help the industry function.”

Maine voters approved a proposal legalizing recreational cannabis use for adults in 2016, but the law took years to finally materialize. 

That is because former Maine Gov. Paul LePage, a Republican, repeatedly stood in the way of the law’s implementation. 

But voters there elected a new governor in 2018, the Democrat Janet Mills, who immediately went to work in upholding the will of the people and getting the new marijuana law up and running.

In the summer of 2019, Mills signed a bill that made changes to and enacted the new cannabis law. 

“Over the course of the last several months, my Administration has worked quickly to implement the law regarding Maine’s adult-use recreational marijuana market as Maine voters asked the state to do two and a half years ago,” Mills said at the time. “The rule development demonstrates what can be accomplished when state government works with lawmakers, industry stakeholders, and the public to accomplish a shared goal. With this law, we are one step closer to honoring the will of Maine voters.”

The governor’s office said at the time that the legislation signed by Mills made “several changes to the [marijuana law] including an amendment to the Maine Food Law to no longer consider edibles produced with recreational marijuana as adulterated, allowing the entry of certain vendors into the limited access areas of licensees, and authorizing the department to impose an administrative hold on a licensee,” while additionally authorizing both the Office of Marijuana Policy and the state Department of Administrative and Financial Services “to complete final adoption of their adult use rulemaking.”

“OMP consulted with seven different state agencies consisting of the Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry; Department of Health and Human Services; Department of Labor; Department of Public Safety; Department of Environmental Protection; Department of Professional and Financial Regulation; and DAFS’ Maine Revenue Services when completing their rulemaking work,” Mills’s office said at the time. “The office also coordinated closely with the Office of the Attorney General, Department of the Secretary of State and the Legislature’s Office of Policy and Legal Analysis.”

Legal adult-use cannabis sales officially kicked off in Maine in October of 2020, nearly four years after voters approved the legalization ballot measure. 

The months and years that have followed have seen the fledgling marijuana industry grow and prosper. In May 2021, the state reported more than $5 million in recreational pot sales, which at the time made it the highest grossing month.

That is a modest figure compared to the more recent monthly sales totals. Masthead Maine reports that the state “set a new record each month through August 2022, which brought in over $17 million.”

Last month brought in $15.2 million in recreational marijuana sales, according to the outlet, and the 2022 sales “also earned the state roughly $16 million in tax revenue.”

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Montana raked in more than $200 million in its first year of recreational cannabis sales, the state reported this week.

The Montana Department of Revenue released figures detailing how much money was generated in both medical and recreational marijuana sales in 2022.

Last year marked the launch of the state’s recreational marijuana market. Voters there legalized medical cannabis in 2004. 

The Department of Revenue said that adult-use marijuana sales totaled $202,947,328 in 2022, while medical cannabis sales amounted to $93,616,551.

The two combined to generate a grand total of $303,563,879 in marijuana sales last year. 

Montana generated $41,989,466 in tax revenue off recreational pot sales, according to the Department of Revenue, and $3,744,662 in taxes from medical cannabis sales. Combined, the state pulled in $45,734,128 in tax revenue from marijuana sales in 2022. 

The state levies a 20% take on recreational pot sales, and a 4% tax on medical marijuana.

The Department of Revenue said all figures were estimates. 

Voters in Montana approved a ballot measure in 2020 to legalize recreational cannabis, one of four states that year where voters passed legalization proposals. The law took effect in 2021.

 “Since January, we’ve been focused on implementing the will of Montana voters in a safe, responsible, and appropriately regulated manner. House Bill 701 accomplishes this,” Gov. Greg Gianforte said in May of 2021, as quoted by local news station KTVH. “From the start, I’ve been clear that we need to bring more resources … to combat the drug epidemic that’s devastating our communities.”

Chief among Gianforte’s concerns with the new law was the creation of the HEART Fund, which subsidizes substance abuse treatment in Montana with revenue from recreational marijuana sales. 

“Funding a full continuum of substance abuse prevention and treatment programs for communities, the HEART Fund will offer new support to Montanans who want to get clean, sober, and healthy,” Gianforte said after signing the bill into law in 2021, as quoted by KTVH.

As in other states that have ended the prohibition on pot use for adults, Montana’s new law contains a component to redress harms that have resulted from the War on Drugs. 

The law “authorizes courts to either resentence or expunge marijuana offenses now considered legal or lesser offenses, but does not enact an automatic expungement process,” according to Montana Free Press, but the “the expungement policy has faced criticism as cumbersome and unclear.”

In March of last year, the state Supreme Court issued temporary rules intended to help clarify the expungement application procedure.

The law says that “anyone convicted of an offense that would now be legal in the state can petition to have their conviction removed from their record, get a lesser sentence for it or reclassify it to a lesser offense,” according to the Missoula Current.

The biggest clarification issued by the Montana Supreme Court, the Missoula Current noted, was to inform individuals that “they could submit their expungement request to the court where they were originally sentenced.”

After President Joe Biden issued pardons to everyone with a federal conviction for marijuana possession in October of last year, he encouraged all states to follow his lead. 

A spokesperson for Gianforte told the Montana Free Press at the time that the “governor will continue to evaluate clemencies submitted through the Board of Pardons and Parole on a case-by-case basis, in accordance with [state] statute.”

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The Massachusetts CCC’s report shows that between Jan. 1 and Dec. 18, 2022, the state collected $1.42 billion in adult-use sales. In a breakdown of sales by month, the state collected a fairly steady amount of sales, the highest being $132.4 million in July and $130.8 million in August, and the lowest with $110.1 million in February and only $73 million in December (since recording ended on Dec. 18, this sales data is lower).

The last week of sales by day leading up to Dec. 25 were notably high, starting at $3.2 million on Monday, Dec. 12 reaching a height of $5.1 million on Saturday, Dec. 17, and dropping to $4 million on Dec. 18. Consumers mainly purchased flower during this week specifically, with a total of over $11 million, followed by vape-related products at $6 million, and pre-rolls and edibles nearly the same, both around $4 million each.

Massachusetts legalized adult-use cannabis in November 2018, and since then the state has collected $3.9 billion in total gross sales. It first reached the $1 billion mark in October 2020, then $2 billion in July 2021, and $3 billion in May 2022.

Medical cannabis sales in 2022 during the same period reached $260.2 million, although a gradual decline is seen after the highest medical sales months of March and April, which collected $24.7 million and $24.4 million respectively. The Massachusetts CCC’s graph generally shows a decrease in sales from that point, down to $20.6 million in November, and finally $12.1 million in December.

Gross medical cannabis sales just hit $929.6 million this December, which still reflects steady overall growth since November 2018. Although medical cannabis went live in Massachusetts in January 2013, sales data prior to November 2018 is not available prior to when the CCC took control over the Medical Use of Marijuana Program.

Over the past four years since adult-use cannabis began, the cost of flower has decreased over time. With a few exceptions in March, April and May 2020 due to the pandemic, the average price of flower per gram has remained around $14 until June 2021. After that point, price per gram continued to decrease every month, landing at $7.76 per gram in November 2022, and increasing slightly to $8.07 in November 2022. This coincides with CCC data showing the state’s history with cannabis cultivation. In terms of plants harvested, the state began with only 79 plants in November 2018; followed by 247,793 in November 2019; 699,938 in November 2020; 1,413,311 in November 2021; and finally a huge jump to 2,655,494 plants in November 2022.

According to Boston.com, Brandon Pollock, CEO of Theory Wellness, said that the completion of many cultivation facilities over the last year has contributed to the imbalance of supply and demand. “The last 12 months have been fairly drastic. I’d say on the wholesale market, prices might be down approximately 50% in one year, which is, for folks that are only on the cultivation side of the business, especially difficult,” Pollock told Boston.com.

Joseph Lekach, CEO of Apothca, also explained that this imbalance has been present for some time. “A year and a half, two years, three years ago, it wasn’t good either. It was unbalanced to the high side, now it’s unbalanced for the low side. So this is temporarily good from a customer’s perspective,” Lekach told Boston.com. “But a lot of manufacturers and cultivators will cut costs wherever they can just to stay alive. You’re going to have an inferior product coming out. It’s a double-edged sword.”

Lekach also estimated that based on this current trend, many cannabis companies will be out of business by next year. “We have no idea where the bottom is going to be. I think that there’s a lot of companies suffering because of this,” said Lekach. “I think you’re going to see a lot of companies going out of business probably next year and into 2024.”

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