After first month of sales, how will FWP split marijuana tax revenue?

BOZEMAN β€” As Montana wraps up its first month of recreational marijuana sales, the state is starting to see a years-long process come together.

β€œThe first weekend was definitely fiveβ€”five times the business, five times the revenue, five times the people, but it kind of stabilized right after that,” says Elliot Lindsey, owner of Grizzly Pine, a dispensary in Bozeman.

In January, the first week of recreational sales topped close to $3 million; the remaining weeks’ sales ranged from $2.6 million to $2.8 million. In the first month, the state expects around $2.5 million in revenue from recreational sales alone. A state agency that will be receiving some of those funds is Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks (FWP).

β€œAny time you can add more resources the department can do more,” says Dustin Temple, deputy director of FWP.

When it comes to marijuana tax revenue, FWP gets a total of 32 percent. That then gets split up 4 ways with 20 percent going to the acquisition fund for the Habitat Montana Program. The remaining three get split up with each getting 4 percent. Those funds go to the general fund for State Parks, Trails and Recreational Facilities accounts and Non-Game Wildlife accounts.

Temple says most of their work at FWP is wildlife habitat and with the 20 percent it sets up FWP, and Montana, for success.

β€œConservation is a huge part of what we do here at Fish, Wildlife & Parks, so every dollar we get that we can use to protect and conserve habitat for wildlife and for Montanans current and future, that’s always a good thing,” says Temple.

As we have seen with the pandemic, people have been getting outside more.

β€œTrails is always an appetite for more trails, more infrastructure,” says Temple.

Ultimately we are still only a month into recreational sales. It’s still too early to say how much more the state will make in revenue.

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