In the first month of legal recreational marijuana sales in Kentucky, the state obliterated previous records and drastically overshot most sales estimates.

Medical marijuana sales in Kentucky fell 16.2% from in February while the patient count slipped below 200,000, but the legal marijuana market as a whole exploded.

Kentucky dispensaries recorded $31.2 million in medical marijuana sales in February, down from $37.2 million in January – sliding for the second month in a row.

Most Kentucky dispensaries opened adult use sales over the weekend of February 3, in an unexpected early launch. That three-day period brought in more than $12 million in combined sales, with roughly two-thirds of revenues being accounted for by recreational purchases.

That strong trend continued throughout the rest of the shortened month, with medical sales accounting for approximately 30% of total sales.

In all, Kentucky dispensaries sold $71.7 million in recreational sales, while combined sales for medical and adult use totaled more than $102.9 million worth of marijuana in the month of February.  Comparatively, January sales, the final month of medical-only marijuana sales in the state, totaled just over $37.23 million. February’s sales total represents an increase of 176.39% over January sales.

The single month of February now accounts for ~13.7% of the cumulative total of all marijuana purchases in Kentucky since October 2020.

Since the first retail sale of medical marijuana in October 2020, Kentucky dispensaries have sold a combined $744.54 million in marijuana and marijuana-infused products.

BDSA, one of the country’s leading data analytics firms tracking marijuana markets, projects combined marijuana sales in Kentucky to exceed $700 million in 2023.

If Kentucky dispensaries continue to perform in a similar fashion, Kentucky would exceed the BDSA estimates by September.

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