A new report has revealed that states with legal adult-use cannabis sales have hit a new high in tax revenue.
On Thursday, January 6, the Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) released a report detailing adult-use cannabis sales tax revenue from 2014 through 2021.
According to MPP, as of December 2021, states reported a combined total of $10.4 billion in tax revenue from legal adult-use cannabis sales.
MPP says, though states have not revealed revenue totals for the last one to three months, they reported more than $3 billion in 2021 so far.
The report also lists each state’s tax structure, total annual revenue, and other information regarding revenue routing to public programs and services.
MPP Director of State Policies Karen O’Keefe says states with legal adult-use cannabis are reaping significant economic benefits.
“The legal adult-use cannabis industry has now generated over $10 billion in new tax revenue, and in many instances that revenue is being distributed to much needed public services and programs,” says O’Keefe. “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.”
Currently, eighteen states have adult-use laws to permit, tax, and regulate cannabis sales and consumption.
MPP notes that eight adult-use cannabis laws were approved in 2020 or 2021, seven of which have not begun sales and tax collections or begun them in the last week.
According to MPP, states with adult-use cannabis sales taxes can allocate revenue to social services and programs like education, school construction, early literacy, public libraries, bullying prevention, behavioral health, alcohol and drug treatment, veteran services, conservation, job training, and conviction expungement expenses.
Funds may also help communities that have been disproportionately affected by cannabis criminalization.
