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The Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) recently released its monthly report on the state’s medical cannabis program for December, completing full-year data for 2020. Total sales volume was on the rise to close the year, as was the state’s Spot Index. A review of full-year sales and wholesale price data in the state in 2020 shows that flower prices declined significantly from 2019, even as demand expanded by over 25%.
As of December, Arizona’s medical cannabis program counted 295,295 patients on its rolls. That figure is up by 1.2% from the 291,907 patients registered in the program at the end of November. The number of registered patients in Arizona in December 2020 is also up by 34.3% year-over-year, from 219,817 in December 2019. However, the pace of new patient registrations has slowed recently with adult-use sales expected to begin in the coming months.
According to ADHS numbers, 17,141 pounds of cannabis flower were sold through the state’s dispensaries in December, a figure that is up by 6.3% compared to the 16,127 pounds retailed to registered patients in November. December 2020’s flower sales volume is up by 22.8% from 13,958 pounds in the same month the year prior.
For 2020, Arizona’s medical cannabis dispensaries sold 188,869 pounds of flower to patients, up 25.5% from 150,520 pounds sold in 2019.
The ADHS report also includes sales volume figures for edibles and “marijuana other,” which constitutes extracts and non-edible infused products. December saw 309 pounds of edibles sold, up by 1.6% from 304 pounds sold the month prior. December 2020’s edibles sales volume is down year-over-year by 39.2%, from 505 pounds in the same month a year ago. An annual downturn in monthly edibles sales volume was reported each month in 2019.
For 2020 overall, 4,982 pounds of edibles were sold to patients in Arizona, down by 16.4% from 5,977 pounds sold in 2019.
1,829 pounds of “marijuana other” products were retailed in Arizona in December, compared to 1,712 in November, an increase of 6.8%. This product category has experienced massive year-over-year growth, with December 2020’s sales volume up by 94.8% from 939 pounds in December 2019.
“Marijuana other” sales volume totaled 17,706 pounds in 2020, up 91.9% from 9,226 pounds of such products in 2019.
Combined sales volume of all product types reached 19,277 pounds in December, up by 6.3% from November’s total sales volume of 18,143 pounds. December 2020’s cumulative sales volume is up 25.2% relative to a year prior, when dispensaries sold 15,402 pounds of product to patients. New Year’s Eve was the biggest sales day in December 2020, a phenomenon that did not occur the prior year, when the first three Fridays of the month saw sales outpace the days around the holidays.
Total sales volume of all product types reached 211,557 pounds in Arizona in 2020, up 27.7% from 165,722 pounds in 2019.
Of the markets covered in our reporting, we estimate that Arizona’s medical-only system was the fifth largest in the country by flower sales volume last year, after California, Colorado, Washington, and Oregon.