Most recently, Ohio began its sale of medical cannabis earlier this year, with $330,000 worth of sales in the first two weeks. In comparison, medical cannabis sales in Massachusetts totaled $284,000 in the first month in July of 2015, while Hawaii’s program, which began in August 2017, totaled $304,000 in the first 30 days.

 

Sales by State

As medicinal and recreational programs spread to more states, the market for marijuana, hemp, and CBD continues to grow. As the largest and most populous state, California alone has a yearly volume of over $2.75 billion in medicinal and recreational marijuana sales, with Colorado following at $1.56 billion.
  

·         Alaska

·         California

·         Colorado

·         District of Columbia

·         Maine

·         Massachusetts

·         Michigan

·         Nevada

·         Oregon

·         Vermont

·         Washington

 
Sales of recreational marijuana jumped from $1.89 billion in 2016 to $2.65 billion in 2017, and is projected to reach over $8 billion in 2020.

Business and Job Growth

Increased sales translate to more jobs and businesses opening. In Washington the number of retailers grew from 190 in 2015 to 337 in 2016.

As of 2018, there were 9,397 active licenses for marijuana businesses in the US.

As of early 2018, California had 361 medicinal dispensaries and 303 recreational. Colorado had 503 medical and 518 recreational.

Today, an estimated 125,000 to 160,000 people are employed in the cannabis industry, and this figure is project to reach over 280,000 by 2020. Of these jobs, 35% will be in retail, 15% in management, and 16% in manufacturing.

The economic impact of legal marijuana sales totaled between $20-23 billion in 2017 and could surpass $75 billion in 2022. Some predict that fully legalized cannabis could eventually top cigarette sales in the U.S.