COLUMBUS – This week marks the first year of recreational cannabis sales in Ohio with more than $702 million sold since sales went legal on Aug. 6, 2024.

Exact number published by the Ohio Department of Commerce Division of Cannabis Control show the exact number is $702,587,948 with 109,706 pounds sold as of Aug. 5, the latest number available. The average price was $6.63 per gram the week of July 27 through Aug. 2.

In comparison, Michigan, which has allowed recreational cannabis sales since December 2019, in June 2025 dispensaries sold $260.6 million worth of cannabis products. In 2024 total sales eclipsed $3 billion.

“The first day of sales was awesome,” said Pete Nischt, vice president of compliance and communications for Klutch Cannabis. “It was really exciting to see people across the state finally get to step into this legal market and purchase safe products. … I think there were still a lot of people at the time that thought the sky was falling.”

Ohioans passed a citizen-initiated law to legalize recreational marijuana in 2023 with 57% of the vote, and sales started in August 2024. Ohio lawmakers can change the law since it passed as a citizen initiative not a constitutional amendment.

Ohio Cannabis Coalition Executive Director David Bowling said there is still work to be done around letting people know they can legally buy marijuana in Ohio.

“I talk to people all the time that aren’t aware that you can buy cannabis legally,” he said. “From a revenue perspective, things aren’t exactly where we thought they would be, but they’re not terrible,” Bowling said. “I think people thought we would get closer to $2 billion in revenue.”

Klutch Cannabis, which has four dispensaries in Northeast Ohio, regularly has customers who have never used marijuana before, Nischt said.

“For those people who have used it decades prior, but haven’t used it in a long time, so much has changed now and one of the best parts about a state regulated market is that a lot of the fears that, I think, people had about these products have been addressed by regulations,” he said. “(You) now have high quality products that are produced in a safe facility.”

Ohio has 159 dispensaries licensed to sell both medical and recreational marijuana, according to the Ohio Department of Commerce. There is currently no limit on the number of licenses for dispensaries in Ohio.

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