(This story has been corrected to note a change in Iowa’s THC cap.)
Medical marijuana dispensaries in Iowa generated $10.2 million in sales last year, a 65% increase from 2021.
A surge of new patients obtaining MMJ cards in the market drove those gains.
Through November, the state had nearly 15,000 cardholders, nearly doubling the number from all of 2021, the Des Moines Register reported, using statistics compiled by the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, the state’s cannabis regulator.
In August, the program surpassed $1 million in monthly sales for the first time and maintained that benchmark through the end of the year, according to the newspaper.
By comparison, dispensary sales in December 2021 were about $587,000.
The state’s medical marijuana program has grown significantly since its first full calendar year in 2019, when sales topped $2 million.
In 2020, sales eclipsed $3.5 million, the Register reported.
It was in 2020 that a law took effect changing a 3% THC cap in Iowa to a per-patient limit of 4.5 grams of THC for a 90-day period.
The Iowa Cannabidiol Board, which presents an annual report in late December, laid out several recommendations for the medical marijuana program, including:
- Eliminating state sales tax on MMJ products.
- Altering the tax code to enable MMJ companies to deduct business expenses at the state level.
- Expand licensing beyond the five already issued.
