Maryland Rakes In $21M In Legal Cannabis Sales In First Week, Half During July 1 Weekend

Over the first seven days since Maryland’s legal cannabis sales got underway on July 1,  licensed shops sold $20.9 million in legal weed products, according to the Maryland Cannabis Administration.

Around half of the seven-day total, $10.4 million, was made just during the opening weekend, which blended into the 4^th of July holiday.

“The state of Maryland was very busy,” said Chris Harvey, general manager of Panacea Wellness dispensary in Annapolis, per The Baltimore Banner. Harvey saw consistent foot traffic and a five-to-10-fold increase in the number of transactions in the first week as compared to the first month after his shop opened in October and was selling only medical cannabis.

Before recreational sales “we could go an hour without seeing people in the building,” Harvey said. Now both his recreational and medical product sales are going strong.

But he knows the surge won't last forever.

“Some of this novelty will wear off soon,” he said, noting that seven days of data does not necessarily serve as a market indicator. As new dispensaries open, he expects the market will become more competitive.

Darren Weiss, president of Verano Holdings VRNOF, operator of four Zen Leaf retail locations in Maryland, said in a statement that he’s “encouraged by the strong start to adult-use cannabis sales in Maryland.”

Billion Dollars By 2025

“We often see an uptick in demand following the initial launch of adult-use sales, and with sales in Maryland predicted to reach $1 billion by 2025, there is a significant opportunity for cannabis businesses and the overall economy to benefit,” Weiss said.

The Maryland Cannabis Administration anticipates the industry will reap $600 million in retail sales during the first year of adult-use cannabis legalization. At the current 9% tax rate, the state would take in $54 million to cover government oversight costs, fund community reinvestment efforts and public health initiatives and distribute revenues to counties and municipalities.

In the first six months of 2023, medical dispensaries reported an average of $27.6 million in monthly sales. The largest monthly retail revenue was in June at $42.6 million. Recreational weed sales are expected to far surpass those figures.

Photo: MD July 1 weed sales by Paul W. Gillespie, Twitter