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your homegrown newspaper January 21, 2026
Vol. 22, No. 20
4 years of legalized marijuana produces more than $1B in sales
New business pg. 5
Adult-use sales remain on growth trajectory while medical sales fell over 70%
by Jacob Olness, Montana Free Press
I
Accreditation pg. 6
Main St. murals pg. 7
n the four years since Montana began allowing the legal sale of adult-use marijuana on Jan 1, 2022, the state’s retailers have sold more than $1 billion in product as adult-use sales rise more than enough to offset a sharp decline in purchases regulated and taxed as a medical product. From January 2022 through December 2025, total monthly medical and adult-use marijuana sales increased by about 13% to $27.3 million according to data from the Montana Department of Revenue. Over that same period, monthly medical marijuana sales alone fell by more than 70%. The department tabulated $327 million in
$326M in 2025 annual sales last year, 90% of that sales labeled as adult use. Those sales translated into nearly $60 million in tax revenue. In 2022, Montana dispensaries sold about $304 million in marijuana products, roughly a third of that for medical marijuana sales. By 2025, annual sales had risen to about $327
million — or $287 per capita — with adultuse sales accounting for nearly 90%. The result is a market that looks markedly different from 2022, when legalized sales approved by voters in 2020 took effect in some counties under implementation law passed by the 2021 Montana Legislature. Medical marijuana, w w w.va l le yj our na l.net
which had been legal to patients with medical marijuana cards since 2004, represented 40% of sales in 2022 but now accounts for around one-tenth of the overall market. Monthly sales fluctuated throughout the period, typically rising during the summer months and dipping slightly in the winter.
Throughout 2022, adultuse sales climbed to nearly $20 million by year’s end. Medical sales declined sharply over the same period, falling from over $10 million in January to less than $6 million by December. Excluding local-option taxes, medical marijuana sales are taxed see page 2