Smokin’ Hot

New industry, new yardsticks. Now it’s time for some off-track betting.

BY COLIN W. SARGENT

he State of Maine’s Office of

Marijuana Policy (OMP) in Augusta publishes monthly data on the retail sales of cannabis. The Kentucky Derby may be on May 7 this year, the Preakness May 21. But this horse race goes on all summer!

While the OMP rarely comments on trends, the numbers and graphs tell a compelling tale.

The first full calendar year of sales, 2021, set the standard for annual retail revenues at $81,962,949.

Sidewalk social critics wondered if the summer enthusiasm of 2021 could still fuel sales in the chilly winter months of 2022. February’s sales of $9,128,670 left the gate at a fast clip—resounding proof of the product’s four-season appeal.

When the March 2022 figure was released, $10,587,685 smashed all previous monthly records, even last summer’s trifecta of June, July, and August. If any of us wondered if it was the tourists who were smoking all this stuff (or cooking with it or infusing it into cocktails), nosuh, it was us Mainers all along.

When the tallies flash across the board at year’s end, the final 2022 numbers will be far higher than 2021’s $82M in sales. We’ll start to lay odds after the October numbers come in. That’s when we’ll have summer knowledge. n

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