Michigan’s adult-use cannabis operators concluded 2024 with yet another record-breaking mark for retail sales, but the nation’s second-largest market is finally showing signs of maturity.
The state’s licensed retailers recorded $3.27 billion in adult-use cannabis sales last year, eclipsing the $3-billion mark for the first time, according to the Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency (CRA). That represents a 9.9% increase from the $2.98 billion in adult-use sales from 2023.
In addition, the $264.7 million in adult-use sales from December 2024 pushes the state’s cumulative market total to more than $10.2 billion since sales for those 21 years and older launched five years ago in December 2019, according to the CRA.
Only California, Colorado and Washington have crossed that cumulative threshold.
California is the largest market in the nation with $4.4 billion in adult-use sales forecasted for 2024—once December totals are tabulated—according to the state’s Department of Cannabis Control. Meanwhile, Colorado and Washington are the oldest adult-use markets in the nation, each launching sales in 2014.
Amid another record performance, year-over-year growth for Michigan’s adult-use retail market is slowing down. The state’s 9.9% sales increase comes after 46% growth in 2023 and a 55% increase in 2022, according to the CRA.
The slowing year-over-year growth rate is mostly due to falling prices on dispensary shelves. Michigan closed out 2024 with average adult-use flower prices dipping to $69.20 per ounce at retail in December, an all-time low, according to the CRA.
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The state’s $82.50 average flower price for all of 2024 represents a 10.3% decrease from 2023’s average of $92 per ounce and a 35% decrease from 2022’s average of $128 per ounce.
But Michigan’s licensed dispensaries rung up record figures this past year thanks to the number of products sold, as demand was at an all-time high in 2024 even as neighboring Ohio launched its adult-use market in August 2024.
Overall, Michigan retailers sold more than 1.1 million pounds of adult-use cannabis flower in 2024, representing a 17% increase from the 947,300 pounds sold in 2023 and a 112% increase from the 522,800 pounds sold in 2022.
One notable to Michigan’s maturing market: 2024 was the first time in the state’s five-year history that retailers did not set a record in December sales figures. The $264.7 million in adult-use sales last month was actually below the state’s monthly average of $272.7 million for 2024, according to CRA. It was also below the $276.7 million sold in December 2023.
Michigan’s September and December 2024 adult-use sales figures were below the corresponding months from the previous year—a program first.
Still, the 102,317 pounds of adult-use flower sold in December 2024 was only slightly below an all-time high of 103,129 pounds sold the previous month.
Michigan’s best sales month on record came in August 2024, when retailers rang up more than $294.1 million in adult-use sales.
The success of Michigan’s adult-use market has come at the expense of its medical market, which finished 2024 with nearly $18 million in overall sales, representing 0.55% of the overall market, according to the CRA.
At its height, Michigan’s medical market accounted for more than $481 million in sales in 2021, before falling 96% in the three years since.
This decline can be attributed to adult-use pricing catching up with the medical market over the years. The state’s average adult-use flower price of $69.20 per ounce in December was $18 cheaper than that for medical cannabis flower.
When Michigan first launched adult-use sales five years ago, the average price per ounce for adult-use flower was $419 in 2020, according to the CRA.
Overall, Michigan’s dispensaries sold $3.29 billion in combined adult-use and medical cannabis in 2024, representing a 7.6% increase from the previous year, according to the CRA.
Since the December 2019 launch, Michigan retailers have sold more than $11.5 billion in adult-use and medical cannabis products.
