Over $2B In Marijuana Sales Since 2018: New Jersey Cannabis Czar Attributes Milestone To Devoted Entrepreneurs And More Updates

New Jersey cannabis czar said on Thursday that combined sales of medical and recreational cannabis sales have surpassed $2 billion since 2018.

"Today I'm also proud to announce another milestone," Jeff Brown, executive director of the New Jersey Cannabis Regulatory Commission (NJ-CRC), said during a hearing before the Assembly Oversight, Reform and Federal Relations Committee this week. "Since we started this work in 2018, cumulative sales of both medicinal cannabis and recreational cannabis have eclipsed $2 billion."

Brown said that's thanks to "entrepreneurs who have been putting their money, their lives and their dreams on the line to make this happen," reported Marijuana Moment.

Legal recreational sales launched in New Jersey in April 2022.

Brown recently said that New Jersey is paving its way toward reaching $1 billion in cannabis sales in 2024.

“I’ve seen enough now in the data—and we’ll be releasing more data in the coming weeks and months—but 2024 is the year this is the billion-dollar market," he said recently. "This is the year that New Jersey does a billion dollars in cannabis sales.”

This doesn't come as a surprise considering that in 2023 only, the state has added nearly sixty licensed, operational dispensaries.

See also: This Female-Led Team Prepares To Open New Weed Shop In NJ And Latest Dispensaries In Six States

Canada’s December Cannabis Sales Breakdown

In the more mature Canadian market, December retail sales remained "soft," reported to New Cannabis Venture's Alan Brochstein.

Compared to November, cannabis sales increased 8.2% month-over-month to CA$441.2 million ($327.3 million) in the last month of 2023, as per Statistics Canada’s data.

In Ontario, which is the largest province in the country, figures suggest 19.2% month-over-month from November and 8% year-over-year to CA184.3 million.

In 2023, Canadian recreational cannabis sales totaled $5.07 billion, representing an increase of 12.2% compared to 2022, according to government data released Thursday.

Now read: How Much Do Canadians Spend On Marijuana? A Look At Third Quarter 2023 Sales Data

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