1st recreational marijuana sales in Montana top $1.5 million

HELENA, Mont. (AP) — During the first weekend of legal recreational marijuana sales in Montana, customers purchased more than $1.5 million in products, the Department of Revenue said.

The 20 percent sales tax raised over $313,000 in revenue for the state.

Another $443,000 in medical marijuana was sold on Saturday and Sunday, the agency said, brining in another $17,300 in tax revenue, the Montana State News Bureau reported. Medical marijuana is taxed at a 4 percent rate.

Montana voters approved recreational marijuana use for adults 21 and older in November 2020. The 2021 Legislature passed a bill to implement the program beginning on Jan. 1, allowing adults to buy and possess an ounce of cannabis, up to 8 grams of concentrate or edibles containing up to 800 mg of THC — the main psychoactive compound in cannabis.

Only businesses that had sold medical marijuana prior to the November 2020 election are eligible to sell recreational marijuana through July 2023, when additional businesses can be licensed.

The governor's budget office estimates there will be $130 million in recreational marijuana sales this year and $195.5 million in 2023.

Recreational marijuana was available in 29 of the state's 56 counties on New Year's Day. In counties where a majority of voters rejected the recreational marijuana initiative, another election can be held to reconsider.

Dawson County, whose voters rejected the marijuana initiative in November 2020, last month approved recreational sales.

The recreational use of cannabis is legalized in 18 states and the District of Columbia.