How much are Indiana's neighbors making off marijuana sales?

AI-assisted summary
• Indiana lawmakers rejected multiple bills related to marijuana legalization and decriminalization during the 2025 legislative session.
• Due to a revenue shortfall, Indiana cut millions of dollars in funding for various programs, including public broadcasting.
• Neighboring states such as Illinois and Michigan generated substantial revenue from marijuana sales, while Indiana faces budget cuts.

EVANSVILLE – Another legislation session has passed, and Indiana is nowhere closer to legalizing marijuana.

Several cannabis-related bills briefly lived and quickly died in the 2025 term. The rejected legislation included bills aiming to legalize medical marijuana, decriminalize possession of small amounts, and set up a framework for a legal cannabis operation should the state ever do an about-face.

The lone cannabis effort to become law was a ban on advertising marijuana products. And that language only passed after lawmakers slipped it into a bill that actually dealt with Bureau of Motor Vehicle records.

One thing the legislature did accomplish? Millions of dollars in cuts.

Earlier this month, legislators learned the state would likely have to slash as much as $2 billion due to a revenue shortfall in the wake of President Donald Trump’s tariffs.

As the session lurched to a close last week, lawmakers rescinded millions of dollars initially budgeted for different programs. That included cuts to local health departments and $3.675 million in annual state funds for Indiana Public Broadcasting Stations − the umbrella organization for the state's NPR and PBS operations. 

The drastic cuts come as Indiana’s neighbors rake in millions of dollars in adult-use and medicinal marijuana sales each month. Here’s how much they’re making.

Illinois

Illinois brought in more than $147 million in adult-use cannabis sales in March 2025 alone, according to data from its Cannabis Regulation Oversight Office. That included $116.5 million from in-state residents and $31 million in sales to tourists from places like Indiana.

The state has made $418 million in adult-use sales so far this year. For medical marijuana, that figure is just north of $63 million.

Part of that money goes toward Illinois’ general revenue fund, which helps bolsters the state’s public schools. It also infuses a “local government distributive fund.” Meanwhile, in Indiana, municipal governments, libraries and schools alike are slated to lose millions of dollars over the next three years thanks to a new property tax law championed by Gov. Mike Braun.

Michigan

Our neighbors to the north made even more.

Michigan took in over $276 million in adult-use sales in March 2025, according to a report from its Cannabis Regulatory Agency. That’s a $35 million jump from February.

Medicinal sales were around $655,000.

Ohio

Ohio began medical marijuana sales in 2019 before legalizing adult-use sales last August. Combined, the state has pulled in more than $2.6 billion in the last six years, per data from the state’s department of commerce. That’s about $433 million a year.

Since launching in August, non-medical sales alone have generated more than $465 million.