Michigan Caps Off $3 Billion Year in Cannabis Sales With Record-Breaking December

Michigan has officially joined California in the ranks of cannabis markets that have eclipsed the $3-billion benchmark in annual sales.

Licensed dispensaries recorded $3.06 billion in adult-use and medical cannabis sales for 2023, according to December data released Jan. 16 by the Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency (CRA). This represents a whopping 33.3% increase over the $2.3 billion in sales from 2022.

In doing so, Michigan remains firm as the second largest cannabis market in the nation after California, which is on pace to record $4.4 billion in cannabis sales for 2023, according to the state’s Department of Tax and Fee Administration. However, Michigan’s annual per capita spend of $297 on adult-use cannabis in 2023 shadows that of California’s $113 per capita.

Since Michigan first launched an adult-use cannabis market in December 2019, cannabis consumers and patients have spent nearly $8.2 billion at licensed storefronts.

To cap off 2023, dispensaries reported a record-breaking month of $279.9 million in December sales, which included an all-time high of $276.7 million from the adult-use market and an all-time low of $3.2 million from the medical market, according to CRA data going back to 2019.

Michigan’s adult-use cannabis sales represented more than 97% of the overall market in 2023, as medical sales dipped from $256 million in 2022 to less than $81 million in 2023, or a 68% decrease.

RELATED: Michigan’s Medical Market Prognosis

This continuously shrinking medical market comes at a time when the average ounce for adult-use flower ($92) cost less than the average ounce for medical flower ($100) in 2023, marking a state first since the two markets have co-existed. The average adult-use flower ounce cost more than $500 when the program first launched in December 2019.

And as prices have come down, demand has skyrocketed. Michiganders purchased more than 971,000 pounds of cannabis flower in 2023, marking a 66% increase from the previous year.

Overall, flower sales make up roughly 45% of Michigan’s adult-use retail market, while vape carts (19%), concentrates (17%), infused edibles (10%) and shake/trim (8%) are the other leading product categories.

As 2023 ended, there were more than 680,000 active flowering plants being grown by Michigan’s adult-use cultivators, as well as nearly 318,000 vegetative plants and 281,600 immature plants, according to CRA. This was comparable to Dec. 31, 2022, plant totals (590,000 flowering, 272,000 vegetative and 305,000 immature).

However, inventory has grown significantly, including roughly 112,000 pounds of flower currently available at Michigan retailers at the end of 2023, a 48% increase from the 76,000 pounds available at the end of 2022, according to CRA.

Also at 2023’s end, there were 963 licensed Class A, B and C growers, 751 retailers and 250 processors in Michigan’s adult-use market. This compares to 825 growers, 609 retailers and 202 processors at the end of 2022.

Michigan’s adult-use and medical cannabis markets provide jobs to more than 35,000 workers as of Dec. 31, up from the roughly 28,500 workers in the industry from a year ago.