Medical marijuana sales broke a record in the first six months of 2023, showing a progressive increase in the popularity of cannabis since the first dispensary opened four years ago.
From January to June of 2023, Arkansans spent $141 million on medical marijuana products, totaling 29,057 pounds of cannabis.
The numbers, released Monday by the Department of Finance and Administration, which oversees the medical marijuana industry in the state through the Alcoholic Beverage Control Division, is a sign of the growth of demand for the drug.
“Since the first dispensary opened for business in 2019, approximately $900 million has been spent on medical marijuana purchases in Arkansas,” Department of Finance and Administration spokesperson Scott Hardin said in a statement. “With a sales average of $23.5 million monthly, we should surpass $1 billion in overall sales toward the end of this year. Patients are spending an average of $785,000 a day at the state’s 38 dispensaries.”
The numbers from the first half of 2023 are a slight increase from last year, where the state saw $134 million in medical marijuana sales totaling 23,611 pounds of cannabis. There are also 94,373 with an active medical marijuana patient card, according to the Arkansas Department of Health.
While medical marijuana sales are up for the first half of this year, tax receipts were down when compared with the same time last year. Tax revenue doesn’t always correlate with sales numbers, as audits and…
