Which State Had the Most Cannabis Violations in 2024?

Michigan had more cannabis license violations in 2024 than any other legal cannabis state, according to a new report from Cannabiz Media.

The report found that Michigan had a total of 928 violations, 37% of the 2,484 direct violations issued in the report, which surveyed 29 legal cannabis states and Washington, DC. Michigan was followed by California with 458 violations, Washington with 283, and Missouri with 268. 

According to the analysis, just four states - California, Michigan, Washington, and Missouri - made up 78% of all violations.

New York and Illinois only recorded one violation, according to the analysis.

The analysis found that regulators levied a total of $10,803,064 in fines, divided among 849 violations. Michigan accounted for 568 of the violations that resulted in a fine, for a total of $3.72 million, or an average of $6,549 per fine. Massachusetts cannabis operators received the largest average fine, with six fined violations totalling $785,000 ($130,833 per fine). 

The most common violations were those related to operations, accounting for 27.3% of the total. This was followed by recordkeeping violations at 21.4% and “not otherwise classified” at 15.2%. 

According to Crain’s Detroit, Michigan’s Cannabis Regulatory Agency (CRA) has long been criticized for lack of enforcement, leading many in the state’s legal cannabis industry to believe that illicit-market cannabis is flooding the legal market, leading to depressed prices. 

The average retail price for an ounce of recreational cannabis flower dropped from to $65.21 in February 2025, compared to $91.94 in February 2024. In the early days of adult-use cannabis sales in Michigan in 2021, the price per ounce was more than $500. 

According to Cannabis Business Times, Michigan’s licensed retailers recorded $3.27 billion in adult-use cannabis sales in 2024. This represented a 9.9% increase over the previous year, according to the Michigan Cannabis Regulatory Agency (CRA).

The numbers likely do not depict an entirely accurate breakdown of the cannabis violations in 2024 because not all regulators provided data.

Cannabiz Media also looked at violations over a ten-year period from 2014-2024. They found that almost half of all violations either dealt with operations (27.4%) or recordkeeping (21.4%). 

Recalls were far less common than violations. There were only 92 recall events in 2024, including 57 in California alone. The most common reasons for recalls were pesticide, mycological, and organic contamination. 

The authors of the report listed a number of recommendations for cannabis operators. These include performing internal audits at least once a year. The self-audit should target the top five most common violations in the state where the cannabis business operates. 

The report also recommends that businesses integrate compliance scorecards into their operating systems for real-time visibility of problem areas.