The businesses that manufacture and distribute medical cannabis products in Maryland have helped create more than 4,000 jobs and generate $21.7 million in tax revenue for the state, according to a new report.
Beacon Economics LLC, a California-based independent research and consulting firm, recently conducted an economic impact analysis on the state’s burgeoning cannabis industry. The firm reported that since a handful of specially licensed businesses began growing and selling cannabis in Maryland in 2017, they have made “substantial” contributions to the local economy, in the form of investments, new construction, new labor and wages, and more.
According to the report, cannabis industry participants have produced collective economic impacts to the tune of more than $580 million in their first two years of operations. The report focused especially on outcomes produced by the state’s 18 licensed growers and 18 processors.
CANMD, the Maryland Wholesale Medical Cannabis Trade Association, commissioned the study. The association represents the majority of medical cannabis growing and processing operations throughout the state. Mackie Barch, chairman of CANMD, thinks some significant figures are lost in the narrative of how the burgeoning cannabis industry is contributing to the state’s overall economy.