According to the latest sales figures released by Montana’s Cannabis Control Division, purchases of adult-use marijuana in Montana reached a record monthly high in August. The medical marijuana sales for August were the lowest since adult-use shops opened in January 2022.
The Department of Revenue’s report on August shows that adult-use marijuana sales totaled $23,728,009. The Department of Revenue reported that medical cannabis sales totaled $4,969 303 for a total monthly amount of almost $28,7 million. This is the highest monthly haul for the marijuana industry in California.
State-licensed shops have sold legal cannabis worth more than half a million dollars (516,237,988) since January 2022. This has generated an estimated $81.4million in tax revenue for the state. $76 million of that revenue comes from sales for recreational use.
Montana is one of a number states who saw record sales in the last month. These include Connecticut, Maine and Massachusetts.
Montana, like many other jurisdictions, has seen its sales numbers steadily increase since the opening of legal stores, partly due to new businesses coming online. In January 2022, adult-use sales reached $14.1 million. Since then, this number has grown almost every month. Medical sales, however, have had the opposite trend. They fell during 2022 and hovered just above $5 million per month for most of this past year.
According to the report, the combined monthly total for the state was $28,7 million last month, up from $24.3 in January 2022.
A dispute is currently raging in state courts over what to do with tax revenue generated by regulated sales. Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte and Christi Jacobsen, Secretary of State (both Republicans), have asked a court to dismiss a lawsuit challenging Gianforte’s veto on Senate Bill 442, a bill that would have directed more marijuana revenues from the state towards county roads and conservation.
Three organizations have filed a lawsuit against the Governor for what they claim was an unjustified veto during the last hours of the Legislative Session. They say that lawmakers should have the opportunity to override the governor’s decision.
The bill sponsored by Sen. Mike Lang, (R) would have distributed the state’s approximately $50 million annual marijuana revenue into a Habitat legacy fund, the general fund of the state, trails, parks, and recreation, veteran’s services, and a recovery and treatment fund. The governor advocated instead for more money going to the Department of Justice, and the general fund of the state.
This was just one of the few bills that Gianforte received from the legislature during this session. The Senate killed a bill that would have limited THC potency and eliminated adult-use retail stores , as well as a measure passed by the House to ban most marijuana advertisements.
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Photo by Chris Wallis // Side Pocket Images.
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