Ohio recreational marijuana sales top $11.5 million in first 4 days

Ohio marijuana dispensaries raked in more than $11.5 million in recreational marijuana sales in the week that ended Friday, and prices spiked dramatically in the first week that nonmedical cannabis was legally sold in the state, according to figures released Wednesday by Ohio's Division of Cannabis Control.

Overall, Ohio dispensaries sold 1,285 pounds of marijuana flower and 173,043 units of other products, such as edibles and topical ointments, for nonmedical use, generating $11,530,708 in total sales, state regulators reported. Medical marijuana sales generated another $8.3 million.

Meanwhile, the average price last week of an ounce of flower − dried cannabis plant material − jumped about 20% to $266 per ounce, compared to $222 dollars per ounce in the previous week, according to the Division of Cannabis Control's numbers.

Ninety-eight dispensaries received state-granted, dual-use certificates of operation to sell medical and nonmedical cannabis on Aug. 6 − the first day recreational cannabis sales were allowed in Ohio last week. And another 18 dispensaries received dual-use certificates by Thursday.

Ohio's sales compared favorably to early sales of recreational marijuana in other states, according to Jason Erkes of Chicago-based Cresco Labs , which owns the Sunnyside dispensary in Columbia Township where one of the first recreational marijuana sales in the state was made.

"Any way you look at it, Ohio had incredible performance in the first week of sales that is on par or exceeds revenues for other adult use launches, like Illinois,'' Erkes said.

Nearly $11 million of recreational marijuana was sold in Illinois in the first week that recreational cannabis use became legal in the state in 2020, according to a CNN report.

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Ohio recreational marijuana sales top $11.5 million in first 4 days