Connecticut Adult-Use Marijuana Sales Reach New High In October, While Medical Cannabis Continues To Decline

Legal cannabis retailers in Connecticut sold nearly $25 million worth of marijuana last month, including a record high amount of adult-use products.

While overall marijuana sales in October were down slightly compared to September’s $25.2 million, sales of recreational products set yet another monthly record, coming in at $14.7 million. That means every single month since Connecticut’s adult-use market opened in January has set a new record for sales.

Sales numbers were released Monday by the state’s Department of Consumer Protection (DCP).

In addition to selling a higher value of adult-use products than ever, retailers also moved a record-high count of individual products in October—393,642, to be exact. That’s about 17,600 more products than in September. Medical marijuana dispensaries, meanwhile, sold 277,522 products, or about 6,500 fewer than in September.

Average product prices fell in both markets, albeit only slightly. The average price of an adult-use product, according to the state data, was $36.48, while the average medical marijuana product cost $37.55. That marked the lowest recorded price point for recreational products in the state.

Across both markets, more than half of all the money spent on marijuana (53 percent) during October was for cured cannabis flower, followed by vape cartridges (28 percent), infused edibles (10 percent), extracts “for inhalation” such as dabbable concentrates (6 percent) and miscellaneous other products (4 percent).

Connecticut’s sales numbers are likely to shift noticeably in December, as the state doubles its limit for the amount of marijuana that adult-use consumers can purchase in a single transaction. Beginning December 1, transaction limits for nonmedical consumers will go from a quarter-ounce of flower to a half-ounce or its equivalent.

Medical marijuana purchasers, meanwhile, may continue to purchase up to five ounces of cannabis per month.

Purchase limits on products besides raw cannabis flower are set by equivalence. For example, DCP said the new limits would limit adults to buying no more than 14 prerolled joints that way a gram apiece, four to eight vape cartridges or about 170 servings of edibles, which are limited to no more than 5 milligrams of THC per serving.

Home cultivation of marijuana for personal use, meanwhile, became legal in Connecticut this past July.

Connecticut legalized marijuana for adults through the legislature in 2021, and two years later, sales numbers are still growing quickly. This year, the adult-use market has seen multiple consecutive record-setting months of legal purchases. September, the most recent month for which sales numbers are available, saw $14.4 million worth of adult-use sales and medical cannabis sales of $10.8 million.

The state also launched a new fund in August to help support social equity marijuana businesses. The loan program will provide financial assistance to help people who’ve been disproportionately impacted by prohibition expand their operations in the legal industry.

In July, meanwhile, the state adopted tax breaks for legal cannabis businesses that are currently prohibited for making federal deductions under an Internal Revenue Service (IRS) code known as 280E. Giving marijuana businesses the state-level 280E workaround is expected to translate into $4.7 million in industry relief for the 2024 fiscal year, which will increase to $6.2 million in the 2025 fiscal year, the governor’s office said.