PROVIDENCE – Recreational cannabis receipts in Rhode Island reached $7.1 million in September, rising for the 10th consecutive month and continuing the upward trend of sales since the passage of the Rhode Island Cannabis Act, according to the latest monthly numbers from the R.I. Department of Business Regulation.
The 60 state-licensed cultivators sold 1,193 pounds of cannabis to Rhode Island compassion centers in September, up from the 1,152 pounds recorded in August.
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The $9.63 million in total sales fell short of the record $9.67 million in August, due to the drop in medical cannabis sales. When recreational sales began, there were 15,062 medical card holders, a number which has now dropped to 10,817, according to DBR. While recreational sales have more than doubled in the past nine months, the increase has coincided with a steady decline on the medical side, which netted $2.5 million in September, down from $2.64 million in August and $4 million in December 2022, when recreational sales began.
State law imposes a 10% excise tax and 7% sales tax, plus a 3% local tax for the municipality where the sale took place. The monthly data released by the state breaks down sales by product type and includes the average point-of-sale receipt, which was $26.11 in September and $25.39 in August.
There are currently six licensed retailers in the state, including the five compassion centers that have so-called hybrid licenses, allowing them to sell to both medical and recreational customers. The three-member R.I. Cannabis Control Commission, the authority that will decide on the 24 remaining retail licenses, is expected to begin issuing those in 2024.
Neighboring states are enjoying their own sales boom. Sales of adult-use marijuana in Massachusetts, which began in 2018, have set monthly records in four consecutive months and surpassed $5 billion in gross sales on August 31, according to the Mass. Cannabis Control Commission.
Christopher Allen is a PBN staff writer. You may contact him at Allen@PBN.com
