The numbers are staggering and they’re only expected to grow. Michigan closed out 2021 with another record-breaking month of legal, adult-use marijuana sales of about $135 million, in December.
It may be impossible to overstate how fast and furious the cannabis industry has taken off in Michigan since voters in 2018 approved a ballot measure that legalized marijuana use under local and state laws for adults 21 years of age and older. This paved the way for the opening of Michigan’s first licensed recreational dispensary in late 2019. There are now more than 400 of them across the state. The proliferation of cannabis shops, which are licensed and regulated by the state, has led to Michigan expecting to collect nearly $350 million in tax revenue from the sale of recreational marijuana alone in 2021.
Michigan is among 18 states that have laws on the books that legalize, tax and regulate cannabis for adults 21 years and older. According to the Marijuana Policy Project, the nation’s largest cannabis policy reform organization, as of December 2021 these states reported a combined total of $10.4 billion in new tax revenue stemming from marijuana sales. This revenue can be directed toward a wide range of programs and services. They include education, school construction, early literacy, veterans’ services, public libraries, behavioral health and job training, among other efforts aimed at boosting communities.
Michigan Enjoying
Record Sales of Recreational Marijuana
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Jon Becker | Michigan Green State
For instance, the Michigan Department of Treasury reports that in fiscal year 2020 the state allocated about $11.6 million from cannabis taxes to the School Aid Fund for K-12 education.
“States that have legalized cannabis for adults are reaping significant economic benefits,” said Karen O’ Keefe, director of state policies at the Marijuana Policy Project. “The legal adult-use cannabis industry has now generated over $10 billion in new tax revenue, and in many instances, this revenue is being distributed to much-needed public services and programs, including reinvesting in communities that were devastated by the War on Drugs. This is in stark contrast to prohibition, which costs taxpayers billions of dollars each year to enforce.”
Unexpectedly, Lienhart said “everything relaxed.”
“The world felt complacent for a moment,” he said. “The static calmed down and then the chaos did.”
He got another joint from his friend, ate and then went to bed. He said he slept for 18 hours straight that night.
“I remember that sleep,” he said. “That is the best sleep I’d ever fuckin gotten in my life.”
He continued to use marijuana recreationally, and medicinally as he later discovered, while working as a chef until 2020.
Lienhart said COVID “decimated” the world he had grown up in.
“The whole culinary industry was absolutely eviscerated,” he said. “You’re watching everything that you love incinerate around you and fall to ashes. It wasn’t a pleasant time.”
He picked up a liking for a hobby he had only ever practiced in school: writing.
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Founded in 1995, the mission of the Marijuana Policy Project is to change federal laws so that states are allowed to set their own cannabis laws and policies without federal interference.
Experts are projecting marijuana sales in Michigan to surpass the $1.8 billion mark, and with the expansion of dispensaries, growers and processors occurring, reach the $3 billion mark by 2024.
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