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It is true that the demand for this industry continues to grow despite lawmakers trying to push it out in some states. But for the states that are beginning to hop on the cannabis bandwagon, they can look forward to a great cash flow that comes in from taxes on marijuana. In fact, there was so much demand for medical marijuana during the pandemic in 2020 that most dispensaries across the United States were labeled as essential services that must remain open in order to serve the people. This is a huge step in the government admitting the importance and profitability of medical marijuana, and is a good inclination that we will see weed legalized on a federal level within the next decade or so. That is my hope at least.

While there are significant amounts of taxes being put on the medical marijuana industry, most of that is being paid on the growing and manufacturing side of the industry. This means that regular consumers and medical patients like you and me don’t actually have to shoulder the brunt of these taxes. Additionally, some states that have legalized medical marijuana as well as recreational marijuana for all adults over the of 21 are not taxing medical patients at all for using their cannabis. Instead, the difference is made up on the recreational side of things. This can be good or bad depending on how you look at it, but I think that overall this is a good step in the right direction.

Having a medical marijuana program is also a pretty good way to convince a state to also include a recreational program as well. Once they see how profitable, and how harmless, that marijuana can be on a retail level, it’s no surprise that a lot of states decide to take the final step in legalizing recreational marijuana as well. So what are the states with the most profitable medical marijuana programs? Unsurprisingly, the three states with the most amount of tax dollars raised from cannabis are California, Washington, and Colorado. Not only are these states very into cannabis culture, but they are also among the first few states to legalize medical marijuana programs.

With that being said, I think that it is important to keep in mind what these states are doing with that extra tax revenue. What did Washington state, for example, due with it’s $427m in cannabis tax revenues? According to the state departments in Washington, there was a lot of tax revenue that was put back into the medicaid program, as well as the Department of Social and Health Services to prevent and treat substance abuse. They also pocketed some of the money by putting it in the Washington State general fund, and I don’t really blame them! I hope that we can soon find ourselves in a country that appreciates medical marijuana for what it is - a natural, risk free alternative to a lot of other worse medical treatment options that are out there right now. Tax revenue is a huge incentive for a lot of these states.