Medical marijuana in Arizona generated $280 million in sales, $30 million in tax revenue

Medical marijuana is a growing industry across the country, and that's especially true here in Arizona.

The latest numbers from the Arizona Department of Health Services show there are now more card holders than ever before, and they are also using more cannabis than ever before.

All of it comes on the heels of an election that saw voters narrowly reject an effort to legalize recreational use of pot in our state.

"I think a lot of people were waiting to see if it's going to pass. It's a lot easier for 'hey I'm going to try cannabis for whatever medical conditions," said Lilach Mazor Power of Giving Tree Wellness.

Canadian weed?

It's supposed to be pretty good.

But Arizona medical marijuana?

Super profitable.

Ask the people from a Toronto firm who recently announced the "acquisition" — with caveats and disclaimers — of two Mesa dispensaries.

The $27 million deal also includes one of the state's biggest cannabis-extracts brands and an option to control a cultivation and wholesale business in Nevada, where voters legalized recreational marijuana in November.

Arizona's more than 114,000 medical marijuana patients smoked, ate or otherwise consumed more than 29 tons of the drug last year.

That's more than half of a fully-loaded tractor trailer.

Or, looking at it another way, it's the equivalent of more than 58,600 16-ounce bags of Oreos.

That's a 52 percent increase in the amount of pot legally sold in 2015. And the 2015 numbers themselves were double the prior year.

What makes the 2016 figure even more amazing is that the number of medical marijuana users has increased in the past year by less than 35 percent.

Doing the math, that means the average medical marijuana user consumed just under eight ounces of the drug last year, though the odds are some smoked more and some smoked less.

The amount of money spent on medical marijuana in the next four years will nearly double according to a new study — assuming the Trump administration doesn’t step in.

Projections by New Frontier Data and ArcView Market Research peg retail sales this year at $367 million. But by 2020 the report figures it should reach the $681 million range.

What makes that spending increase even more remarkable is that the report’s authors say the price of medical marijuana is likely to drop sharply during the next few years. Put another way, each dollar spent will buy more pot.

“Operators interviewed stated they have seen wholesale prices fall from over $3,500 per pound to less than $1,800 in some cases, with continued declines expected,’’ the report states.

Though the US Drug Enforcement Agency hasn’t reclassified marijuana, easier availability of the drug for study has the potential to unearth new medical uses.

Claiming the state is hoarding funds, two medical marijuana users want a judge to reduce the annual charge for the legally required registration cards.

In legal papers filed here, the attorney for Yolanda Daniels and Lisa Becker points out the Department of Health Services collected $2.6 million more in fees last year from patients, caregivers and dispensaries than it actually took to run the program. And Sean Berberian noted the balance in the account as of the end of 2015 was nearly $11.5 million.

Yet the health department still charges patients $150 a year for identification card they need to legally buy the drug and escape prosecution if they are found in possession. And caregivers who tend to patients must pay $200 a year.

Duke Rodriguez brought a three-week-old pot plant to the State Fair, touching off a silly kerfuffle that highlights the absurdity of our current marijuana laws.

Rodriguez is president and CEO of Ultra Health LLC, based in Scottsdale, Ariz. The plant he displayed to fairgoers is just one of 450 Ultra Health is permitted to grow on its 11-acre pot ranch in Bernalillo.

For publicly exhibiting a marijuana plant, the state demands Ultra Health suspend sales for five days, a penalty Rodriguez says will cost him $100,000.

There’s serious money in the legal marijuana trade, and a lot more still on the horizon.

Two things need to happen in the wake of Arizona’s failure to become the 9th state to legalize recreational marijuana on Nov. 8, according to the state director of Arizona NORML.

“We need to have the campaign, whatever campaign it is, address the fact that there’s 40 percent of the population that does not live in the Phoenix Metro area and those people need to be part of the picture," said Mikel Weisser. 

"And we need to come up with some agreement on what we want to do, because we can’t make progress when we’re fighting against each other."