COLDWATER, MI (WTVB) – With nearly two dozen recreational marijuana retail stores and a number of other manufacturing facilities in the area, Branch County has a large stake in the cannabis business. But some in the industry say their business model is changing, but not necessarily for the better.
Marijuana customers reportedly spent $3.2 billion in the state in 2024, but industry officials say despite increased consumption, margins are shrinking, putting the jobs of Michigan’s nearly 38,000 marijuana employees at risk.
According to the state’s Cannabis Regulatory Agency, since November the industry has lost an average of 122 jobs per month, its the first-ever decline. The market was adding about 1,283 jobs per month over the same period in 2022, prompting the co-owner of one manufacturing facility in Michigan to call 2025 “a year of reckoning” for the industry.
As of January 2024, the average retail cost for an ounce of marijuana was $66.50. That same amount sold for $152.74 per ounce in January 2022, making it a 56% price drop. Industry-wide sales increased 8% in 2024, compared to 33% growth the year prior.
Branch County received $827,000, while the City of Coldwater got nearly $649,000, and the Village of Quincy received over $177,000 in recreational marijuana excise tax revenue from Fiscal Year 2023.
Robin Schneider, director of Michigan Cannabis Industry Association trade and lobbyist organization, says there there are a number of grow operations that are slated for closure this year.
At the same time, Governor Gretchen Whitmer recently announced plans to tax marijuana wholesalers in an effort to raise $470 million in new revenue for road repairs. Currently, a 10% excise tax is added to retail sales but not charged to producers and processors upstream in the supply chain.
Here we go again. It will soon be users wanting compensation for health issues much like what was done to the cigarette industry. This was a bad idea on day one and as far as our woke governor wanting tax dollars to fix the roads. She spent the surplus that was left to her on pet projects and never fixed the roads. Which was her war cry in her first election. “Fix The Damn Roads!” New quote “Anybody got a bag of blacktop patch?”