BEAVERCREEK — Ohio residents have spent over $130 million on recreational marijuana over the past three months, according to the Ohio Department of Commerce Division of Cannabis Control historical sales data.
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“It sounds like there’s a lot of sales,” Dean Oliver, a Beavercreek resident told News Center 7′s Mason Fletcher on New Center 7 at 5:00.
Oliver says he is not surprised by the sales and new dispensaries, but he doesn’t pay much attention to it.
“If it doesn’t include me, I’m not really concerned about it,” Oliver said.
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One hundred and twenty four of the dispensaries were on the original list to begin recreational sales the first day it became legal in August. For Oliver, it is not a big deal.
“Marijuana is one of those things that I believe, eventually, will probably be legalized at some point, as it is in certain parts of Europe,” Oliver said.
Non-medical marijuana sales began August 6, 2024. In the first month, adult-use marijuana sales reached over $44 million. In the second month, around $32 million.
Recreational marijuana sales have a ten percent sales tax. Twenty five percent goes to help people who need help with substance abuse and 36 percent goes to the local government that the sale was in.
Oliver says he would like some of the sales tax to go toward civic improvements.
“The streets and roads, traffic signs, markings, pothole replacement,” Oliver said. “There’s a whole host of things.”
Oliver says he has seen recreational dispensaries become more popular across Ohio, and he predicts their popularity will increase in the coming months.
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