California Recreational Cannabis Sales Break Records For July

California is the King Of Cannabis!

According to a press release by MJBizDaily, California has had two record breaking months of cannabis sales in their recreational market during the month of March and now July of 2020.

New sales figures released by Headset, a Seattle based firm that tracks data within the marijuana industry, show that the State of California indeed has had another record breaking month for sales of recreational cannabis. Coming in just over $348 million, this number shatters the previous record of $332 million set this past March (during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic).

When the March figures were first released, most people attributed the dramatic uptick in sales to consumers hoarding cannabis in fear of not being able to get their normal stash. One of the biggest reasons being that the pandemic related lockdowns occurring all over the country were completely shutting down retail businesses. There were also several rumors of lockdown related supply shortages. (Have you ever lived through a pandemic?? Have you ever lived through a pandemic, ON WEEEEED?)

However, seeing that the sales figures continue to rise, one might think that the California cannabis market is really the gigantic economic powerhouse it seems to be.

It is unbelievable when you think about what that number actually represents. More than $10 million is spent every day in California on cannabis. Sorry! $10 million is spent every day in California on RECREATIONAL Cannabis, which means this number doesn’t even give us the total sales because it doesn’t include the medical cannabis market. That is just mind boggling!

To put things further into perspective, one month of recreational cannabis sales in the State of California is more than the GDP of the 3 smallest countries in the world added together (Kiribati, Nauru, and Tuvalu).

List of Countries GDP, Highest To Lowest

Every year since the enactment of Proposition 64 (January 2018), California has seen dramatic increases of sales in both of their cannabis markets (medical and recreational), figures which dwarf those of the other cannabis markets across the country. As a reminder, there are currently 11 states plus the District of Columbia with active adult-use cannabis markets.

How does California stack up against some of the other recreational markets in the U.S.?

Adult-Use Cannabis Sales by Month and MarketMJBizDaily

As you can see from the chart above, California’s sales are far greater than any other recreational cannabis market in the United States. Another interesting fact that can be taken from the data is that sales have been relatively flat or in some cases, down, in both Colorado and Nevada. For some reason, California seems to be totally unaffected by what is happening around the country, either that, or its residents are consuming a boat load of cannabis everyday.

With an election on the horizon, there are several more key states looking to pass cannabis legislation, one of the most important being New Jersey. Industry experts believe that if New Jersey residents vote to legalize adult-use cannabis in the upcoming November election, it will put enough pressure on Governor Cuomo to pass similar laws in the State of New York.

Over the last two years, which have included at least one attempt to legalize recreational cannabis, Cuomo has made it abundantly clear that he does not want to miss out on the revenue generated by Cannabis. He has also made it clear that he does not want New York residents driving to Jersey to purchase marijuana (and lose out on that tax revenue!!). So, here’s to hoping that the people of New Jersey do the right thing and get the ball rolling for us!