D.C.’s medical cannabis program sales slump again despite new dispensaries
D.C.’s medical cannabis program is experiencing a downturn in sales despite a promising start to spring and a patient increase. May 2024 marked the program’s lowest sales figures in the last four years for the same month, according to the monthly sales report released by the Alcohol Beverage and Cannabis Administration.
Sales figures show a nearly 10% drop from April and a 16.7% decrease compared to May 2023. This comes amidst a period of expansion, with the number of operational dispensaries nearly doubling to ten. The program is anticipating the expiration of nearly 6,800 patient registrations by the end of August which eclipses the few hundred new patients registering a month.
The continued slump in sales raises concerns as the overall program sales have not increased in correlation with new retail locations opening. This means a little under $3 million in dispensary sales is now being split between 10 retail locations instead of the six that were open in February when sales were $2.5 million.
Cultivation and manufacturing sales dropped again after a large increase between March and April when the first new dispensaries opened.
However, there are some