Michigan Report: Cannabis Dispensaries Not The Main Source Of Weed Purchases, Concludes AEG Study

Anderson Economic Group's principal and CEO Patrick L. Anderson joined by AEG consultant Andrew Miller testified on Tuesday before the Michigan House of Representatives Committee on Regulatory Reform.

At the invitation of the committee chair, the speakers gave testimony about the economics of Michigan’s cannabis market. They presented their findings based on AEG’s first-of-its-kind study quantifying total demand for cannabis products in the Great Lake State.

The famed Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference will gather industry insiders and investors from around the world, on October 14-15 in New York City. Attendees can expect 2 full days of keynotes, panel discussions, fireside chats, networking, company presentations, celebrity appearances and an impressive lineup of the top journalists in the cannabis space.

Here are some of the key points from the testimony:

• Michigan, Benzinga's home state had a nearly $3.2 billion cannabis market in 2020, with nearly 400 licensed medical provisioning centers and 300 licensed adult-use retail stores, accounting for 16% and 15% of market size, respectively.
• Roughly 70% of the state’s cannabis consumption occurs outside of retail stores, either through home cultivation, medical caregivers, or illicit transactions, accounting for the remaining 69% of the market size.
• More than 80% of Michiganders now live within a 20-minute drive of a recreational cannabis shop or medical provisioning center, with one in five Michiganders reporting cannabis use in 2020.
• During 2020, nearly $1 billion in legal sales were reported, and the regulated cannabis industry generated $169 million in tax and fee revenues.

“Over these six years, we have observed steady growth in consumer demand for cannabis in Michigan,” AEG consultant Miller commented. “Although the first medical provisioning centers opened in 2018, and the first adult-use stores in 2019, most cannabis was obtained outside of retail settings in 2020.”

According to a recent statewide poll conducted by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research and Public Opinion Strategies and commissioned by the Michigan Cannabis Manufacturers Association (MCMA), over 78% of Michigan residents support the idea of both medical and recreational cannabis being subject to the same regulation, including testing, tracking, licensing and safety.

The survey also showed that 82% of respondents support requiring unlicensed marijuana growers (UMG) to test their product for harmful substances using the same standards as current licensed growers and processors.

Photo courtesy of Jason Hutchison on Unsplash