Reviewing some updated resources and stories regarding marijuana taxes
I was pleased to hear from a number of students in my Marijuana Law and Policy seminar at The OSU Moritz College of Law that they were interested in various tax-related issues. I have long viewed all sorts of tax topics in the cannabis space, ranging from special tax rates to tax collections to revenue distributions and impacts, to be extremely important and relatively under-studied.
My perspective, as well as Ohio’s dynamic recent history with marijuana taxes, in part accounts for why the team at the Drug Enforcement and Policy Center has authored a series of cutting-edge research reports looking at all sorts of national, state and local cannabis tax issues. These reports and lots of additional information can be found on a dedicated DEPC research page titled “Marijuana Reform and Taxes: How States Tax Adult Use Cannabis and Spend Resulting Revenue.” That page was recently updated to note that Ohio localities finally received the marijuana tax revenues that Ohio voters had voted for way back in November 2023.
In addition, I recently noticed that the folks at Motley Fool just updated its detailed accounting of state marijuana tax revenue in this article headlined “Marijuana Tax Revenue by State: Marijuana can bring in big bucks for state governments.” The lengthy and data-rich article starts with these three “Key Points”: “[1] Legalization has raised over $25 billion in state tax revenues from cannabis sales. [2] States with legal recreational markets like California generate significant tax income. [3] Tax revenues support diverse programs, from education to public safety.”
Meanwhile, as is true nearly every month, a number of states have notable marijuana tax or tax-related developments making headlines. For example:
From Arkansas: “Arkansas medical marijuana sales set new record in 2025“
From Michigan: “New marijuana tax in Michigan sparks concern among dispensaries and customers alike“
From Montana: “Montana adult-use cannabis sales hit record $327 million“
From Oregon: “Oregon’s Crashing Pot Prices Put Drug Treatment at Risk“