David Abbott
(Arizona Mirror) Total Arizona marijuana sales in 2022 mirrored the total from 2021, the first year of the legal adult use market, but the paths that each year reached $1.4 billion in sales were strikingly different.
In 2021, medical marijuana sales were the driving factor, accounting for nearly 55% — about $760 million — of the total. In 2022, the recreational cannabis market soared to nearly 70% of sales, or more than $950 million, as the medical market crashed to slightly more than $500 million.
The recreational market closed out 2022 with its best monthly total in December, clocking in at about $86.6 million, a slight increase from the $85.8 in November sales. Medical marijuana sales were stagnant, with a slight drop from November to December 2022 from $31.9 to $31.1 month-to-month.
The overall total cannabis sales for both markets since the advent of legal adult-use in January 2021 is $2.9 billion.
Medical sales have declined nearly every month since April 2021, with few exceptions. Sales that month reached $73.2 million, but with the exception of July 2021 when sales hit $71.6 million after a $5 million drop in June that year, medical sales have never come close to that total again. The last time medical users spent more than $50 million in a month was April 2022.
Recreational sales have remained robust as patients flock to the recreational market and manufacturers of higher-potency medical marijuana products — edibles and other ingestables — have…
