Gov. Wes Moore Announces Maryland Cannabis Sales Exceed $1.1B In First Year Of Legalization

Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) announced Wednesday that the state’s legal cannabis sales surpassed $1.1 billion since legal sales began on July 1, 2023. Since Moore signed legal cannabis into law, adult-use sales totaled more than $700 million and medical sales totaled nearly $400 million.

“Our new adult-use cannabis market isn’t only generating extraordinary economic activity – it’s also helping us build new pathways to work, wages, and wealth for all,” said Moore in a press release. “Making Maryland more competitive means ensuring that everyone can reap the benefits of Maryland's economic growth. This important milestone proves how our administration continually – and repeatedly – honors our deep commitment to that mission.”

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The first nine months of legalization pulled in around $41.4 million in revenue from a 9% tax on recreational cannabis purchases, Comptroller Brooke Lierman's office said last week. Around a third of that revenue is placed into a state fund that is then distributed to communities based on how heavily they were impacted by cannabis prohibition.

A stated goal of Maryland's cannabis reform law has been to undo the negative impacts of the war on drugs and to change the government’s campaign to curb drug abuse through criminal enforcement and incarceration of millions of Americans, a practice that disproportionately affected Black, Latino and other racial minorities.

“The criminalization of marijuana harmed low-income communities and communities of color in a profound way,” said Moore when he signed the legalization bill into law. “We want to make sure the legalization of marijuana lifts those communities now in a profound way.”

One year into cannabis legalization, the Maryland Cannabis Administration, the Office of Social Equity, and the cannabis industry in Maryland continue to grow and evolve, noted the governor’s office in the press release.

Some of the agency and industry highlights in Maryland for the past year include administering the first cannabis business licensing round in the nation that was reserved exclusively for social equity applicants, establishing a first-in-the-nation Cannabis Workforce Development Program and Moore’s expungement of 175,000 cannabis convictions.

"I am proud of the efforts of the Cannabis Administration staff who worked in collaboration with our governmental and industry partners to implement a safe and equitable market in Maryland, while simultaneously building a new regulatory agency," said Maryland Cannabis Administration Director Will Tilburg. "As exciting as the past year has been, we expect the year ahead to be even more so, as new social equity businesses bring their passion and innovation to the Maryland market."

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Photo: Benzinga edit with images by Maryland State Government via Wikimedia Commons and Matthew Sichkaruk via Unsplash