After 4 months, medical marijuana sales in Michigan exceed $42 million

Michigan is home to the second largest medical marijuana market in the United States. Despite it's limited number of licensed dispensaries available to the large amount of patients the sales have grown to over $42 million in just the last four months. The state's first licensed medical marijuana dispensary opened on November 1st and 53 more have opened since then, but some parts of Michigan still have limited access due to the huge amount of patients, 294,000 of them. The licensed program hasn't been around long and shortly after the first medical marijuana dispensary opened voters in Michigan said YES to legalizing recreational marijuana, changing the state once again. 90 days after recreational marijuana passed the 3% excise tax on medical marijuana was eliminated. Once recreational marijuana is regulated and taxed in Michigan it will be subject to a 10% excise tax to supplement the program.

"That exceeds expectations that any of us had for the market," said Rick Thompson, a board member of the Michigan chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws or NORML. "It's a great sign since a significant part of the state isn't serviced by a dispensary yet."