Retailers sold more than $836 million in recreational cannabis products last year, while medical marijuana sales exceeded $233 million.
By Megan Henry, Ohio Capital Journal
Ohio’s recreational marijuana sales surpassed more than $836 million in 2025, the first full year recreational sales were legal.
Recreational sales started in August 2024 and the state’s total recreational marijuana sales were $1,091,250,807, as of January 3, according to the Ohio Department of Commerce Division of Cannabis Control.
Ohioans voted to legalize marijuana in 2023 and recreational sales totaled more than $242 million in 2024.
Ohio’s medical marijuana sales started January 14, 2019, and the state’s total medical marijuana sales were $2,293,970,758, as of January 3, according to the Division of Cannabis Control.
Medical marijuana sales brought in more than $233 million in 2025.
Ohio’s average marijuana prices are a bit lower now than they were compared to last year at this time.
The manufactured sales average was $23.83 for the week ending in Jan. 3 compared to $26.66 for the week ending of January 4, 2025, according to the Division of Cannabis Control.
There are 190 dual-use marijuana dispensaries in Ohio, meaning they can sell medical and non-medical marijuana, according to the Division of Cannabis Control.
More than 130 Ohio municipalities and townships have moratoriums in place banning the sale of adult-use cannabis as of December 2, according to Ohio State University’s Moritz College of Law.
Senate Bill 56
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) signed a bill into law last month that made various changes to the state’s voter-passed marijuana law, including adding crimes such as making it illegal to bring legally purchased marijuana from another state back to Ohio.
DeWine signed Ohio Senate Bill 56, which is set to take effect in March. The bill also bans intoxicating hemp products.
On the marijuana side, it will reduce the THC levels in adult-use marijuana extracts from a maximum of 90 percent down to a maximum of 70 percent, cap THC levels in adult-use flower to 35 percent, and prohibit smoking in most public places.
The bill gets rid of protections against discrimination for housing, employment, and organ donation. It also allows police to have probable cause during traffic stops if someone is a known user of marijuana.
The bill prohibits possessing marijuana in anything outside of its original packaging and criminalizes bringing legal marijuana from another state back to Ohio. It also requires drivers to store marijuana in the trunk of their car while driving.
Ohioans for Cannabis Choice recently launched a referendum effort in an attempt to stop the law from taking effect.
The initial signatures were submitted so now Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (R) must verify the signatures and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost (R) will also have to certify the petition summary is fair and truthful.
If the petition passes those hurdles, organizers can begin canvassing to collect signatures. They’ll need 6 percent of the total number of votes cast in the most recent gubernatorial election (248,092). The group will also need 3 percent of an individual county’s gubernatorial turnout in 44 of Ohio’s 88 counties.
Organizers will have 90 days from the date the governor filed the law with the secretary to collect the required signatures.
The last referendum that passed in Ohio was when voters overturned an anti-collective bargaining law in 2011.
