The Midwest Canna-Boom
The Heart of America Has Become a Hotspot for Pot Tourists, Giving Life to Poor Communities by Bringing Much Needed Revenue.
With new policies approved across the country this past election, already booming cannabis sales have continued to skyrocket as legal weed becomes more available to rural Americans, meaning new opportunities for towns hit hard by the recession and the pandemic. With small business dispensaries popping up all over the place, legalization has driven tourist traffic to otherwise ignored or empty parts of the midwest.
Cannabis has been called “green gold” by states whose incomes have been slowly trickling in recent decades, resuscitating dead towns and empty city budgets with millions generated by pot smoking tax payers. As one of the first states to legalize recreational marijuana in 2013, Colorado’s pot industry has grown to be worth $6.5 billion alone. Less than a decade later, Colorado passed $1 billion in tax revenue in 2019, earmarked to be spent on education, mental health services, youth drug-prevention and health care programs, as well as adding to their once-lacking state general fund.
Other states waited for disaster, but instead saw how this much needed revenue source poured into public works projects and local budgets, and started working on passing their own marijuana initiatives. Soon, Illinois, Michigan, and now South Dakota followed suit, growing their own major industries seemingly overnight. Since Michigan opened it’s dispensaries for recreational cannabis in December 2019, the state’s industry has been projected to be worth $3 billion in the coming years. A lot of revenue for a state that has been dealing with budget deficits for decades.
Tax markups and distance haven’t dissuaded pot enthusiasts, either. I’m based in Dayton, OH. Detroit is four hours away, Chicago about five, and Colorado is fourteen if you drive overnight. I know people who have made all these trips, just to get their hands on that sweet, sweet state-approved marijuana. They sleep soundly knowing their money and effort is going to a safe, high-quality product, and the revenue goes directly to small businesses and the community. What more could you ask for, other than more states doing the same?
Meanwhile, tourist industries have exploded in otherwise rural parts of the country. Cannabis friendly travel guides, Airbnbs and hotels, even transportation services have sprung up to meet the demand of the thousands traveling to experience legal weed for what might be their first time. The Michigan Cannabis Trail has been one of the many companies cornering the market on dispensary tours, and all the new hype has added immeasurable amounts of tourist revenue outside of direct cannabis sales.
What other reason would Ohioans have to drive from Cincinnati to dilapidated Detroit, if not for the friendly pot shops that called to them there? Many industries are already jumping on this exact phenomenon, providing services to out of state cannabis enthusiasts, and it’s a welcome change for communities eager to capitalize on the attention. Even in South Dakota, whose legalization doesn’t begin until July 1, 2021, the industry is gearing up for a profitable entrance into the marijuana tourism market.
All this leads to a growing industry of legalized marijuana, blossoming rural tourism, growing state revenues, as well as trafficking concerns from states surrounding their borders. Opponents to the new laws still hold a major audience, and are the reason passing some of these laws has been narrow. However, in 2021, most states have now decriminalized cannabis or are on the path to their own legalizing initiatives themselves, so the concern is turning from keeping the pot out, to how to grow it at home.
This article is a reposting of a blog post that can be found here.
