In a stunning display of the financial potential of legal cannabis, states across the U.S. have collected a combined total of more than $15.1 billion in tax revenue from adult-use cannabis sales since 2014. As cannabis business owners navigate regulations that can change by state and face growing competition for everything from suppliers to business names, state legislators have been hammering out laws to regulate them—and their sales.
As the Marijuana Policy Project’s latest report reveals, 2022 alone saw over $3.77 billion generated in cannabis tax revenue from adult-use sales. These numbers underscore the critical role that legalization and regulation of cannabis have played in boosting state economies and funding essential social services and programs.
Toi Hutchinson, president, and CEO of the Marijuana Policy Project, argues that states that haven’t yet legalized and regulated cannabis are not only doing a disservice to their constituents but are also missing out on a financial windfall. “States that have made the decision to legalize and regulate cannabis are benefiting from hundreds of millions in tax revenue each year. These new streams of revenue are helping to fund crucial social services and programs across the country, such as education, alcohol and drug treatment, veterans’ services, job training, and reinvestment in communities that have been disproportionately affected by the war on cannabis.”
However, 2022 marked a surprising turn in the cannabis tax revenue narrative. Despite new states joining the legalization movement, there was a slight decrease in total state cannabis tax revenue – from over $3.86 billion in 2021 to $3.77 billion in 2022. This was the first year to see a decrease in tax revenues compared to the prior year.
To read the complete article, go to www.ktvz.com