Indiana is bordered by Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, and Kentucky. Legal adult-use and medical cannabis sales are well underway in Michigan and Illinois, and starting next month recreational cannabis sales will begin in Ohio as well. Medical cannabis sales are already permitted in Ohio.
Kentucky does not permit recreational cannabis sales, however, in 2023 the state legalized cannabis for medical use, and medical cannabis product sales are set to launch some time in 2025.
Unfortunately, Indiana does not permit medical or recreational cannabis sales, and only limited sales of hemp-derived products are permitted within the state. The delay in modernizing its cannabis policies comes with an opportunity cost for Indiana.
In March 2024 alone, Michigan’s legal cannabis industry sold over $286 million worth of regulated recreational cannabis products, in addition to over $2 million worth of medical cannabis products. Michigan’s legal cannabis industry generated $473,303,560 in cannabis tax revenue in 2023 alone.
In Illinois, the state’s legal cannabis industry sold nearly $149 million worth of legal adult-use and medical cannabis products in March 2024. In 2023, Illinois’ legal cannabis industry generated $552,166,729 in tax revenue – the second most in the United States, only behind California.
According to initial reporting by Marijuana Moment, Ohio recreational sales are anticipated to generate between $276.2 million and $403.6 million in annual cannabis tax dollars within five years. As long as Indiana continues to cling to failed prohibition policies, the state will continue to generate zero tax dollars from cannabis.
Total legal cannabis sales in the United States are expected to reach $31.4 billion in 2024 according to a recent analysis by Whitney Economics. Additionally, leading cannabis jobs platform Vangst, in conjunction with Whitney Economics, estimates that the legal cannabis industry now supports 440,445 full time-equivalent cannabis jobs in the United States.
Whitney Economics also projects the following legal cannabis sales figures in the United States for the coming years:
- 2024: $31.4 billion (9.1% growth from 2023)
- 2025: $35.2 billion (12.1% growth from 2024)
- 2030: $67.2 billion
- 2035: $87.0 billion
The emerging legal cannabis industry in the United States is projected to add roughly $112 billion to the nation’s economy in 2024 according to a newly released analysis by MJBiz Daily. The projection is part of the company’s 2024 MJBiz Factbook.
“The total U.S. economic impact generated by regulated marijuana sales could top $112.4 billion in 2024, about 12% more than last year,” MJBiz stated in its initial reporting.
The United States adult-use cannabis industry has generated over $20 billion in total tax revenue since the first legal recreational cannabis purchase was made in Colorado on January 1st, 2014 according to a new report by the Marijuana Policy Project.
“Through the first quarter of 2024, states have reported a combined total of more than $20 billion in tax revenue from legal, adult-use cannabis sales. In 2023 alone, legalization states generated more than $4 billion in cannabis tax revenue from adult-use sales, which is the most revenue generated by cannabis sales in a single year.” the Marijuana Policy project stated in a press release.