New York Cannabis Sales Top $1.6 Billion in 2025, but Illicit Market Pressures Remain

New York cannabis regulators last week released a report on the state’s regulated marijuana market that shows licensed retailers rang up more than $1.6 billion in sales in the first 11 months of 2025. The annual report from New York’s Office of Cannabis Management (OCM) highlighted several achievements in 2025, marking a “defining year for New York’s regulated cannabis market, including record growth in adult-use sales, rapid expansion of licensed retail access across the state, continued progress toward New York’s equity goals, and the first major reinvestment of cannabis tax revenue back into communities disproportionately impacted by past cannabis prohibition,” the agency wrote in a December 31 press release.

The OCM annual report shows that licensed retailers recorded $1.6 billion in regulated cannabis sales as of November 30, 2025. The total includes $1.5 billion in adult-use sales, while sales of medical marijuana totalled $95.5 million. The report also highlights the state’s $2.5 billion in recreational cannabis sales since the market launched in December 2022.

“This Annual Report reflects the market New Yorkers have built together over the past year. We expanded access to regulated, tested cannabis products, strengthened consumer protections, and continued to advance an equity-centered market framework,” said Susan Filburn, acting executive director of the New York State Office of Cannabis Management. “Surpassing $2.5 billion in adult-use sales is a major milestone, and our focus moving forward is ensuring this growth remains responsible, transparent, and grounded in public health and safety, while continuing to deliver opportunity and reinvestment to the communities most impacted by prohibition.”

The annual report also shows that 519 adult-use retail dispensaries were open as of November 30. An additional 31 dispensaries selling medical marijuana products were doing business, while 11 medical and adult-use co-located dispensaries were also serving patients and consumers.

Strong Sales Fueled By Expanding Market

Regulators attributed much of the sales increase in cannabis sales to the expansion of the state’s regulated market. In 2024, 261 adult-use retail dispensaries were open statewide; by 2025, that number had grown to 519.

“The OCM Report proves what many operators have been feeling, which is a dramatic increase in both overall sales and the number of licensees. With $1.5 billion in taxable sales in 2025 alone, we expect to see New York continue to become one of the most dominant and iconic cannabis markets in North America,” Chris Thompson, director of operations and marketing at The Daily Green, tells IgniteIt.

While acknowledging the progress made in New York’s regulated cannabis market, licensed operator, David Craig, vice president of marketing at Illicit Gardens, a multistate operator with a footprint in Missouri, New Jersey and New York, called for more effective measures to address the Empire State’s entrenched illicit market.

“The report shows real progress with $1.6 billion in sales and 55% of licenses going to social equity applicants, but the numbers also reveal the challenge ahead,” Craig writes in a statement to IgniteIt. “With the average dispensary doing around $3 million annually and $20 million in illegal product seized, it’s clear that licensed operators are still competing against a massive unlicensed market. The state’s commitment to equity is encouraging, but 2026 needs to be the year enforcement actually scales up to protect the legal businesses they’ve worked so hard to license.”