Industry News
According to Colorado’s Department of Revenue, Colorado pot shops sold more than $270 million in cannabis and related products in the first three months of 2016. The state’s latest data shows that its marijuana shops sold nearly $90 million of cannabis in March 2016. The licensed stores sold more than $55 million in recreational marijuana and more than $33 million in medical cannabis in March, which is the latest month for which the department has released tax data for the industry. Total sales for retail and medical marijuana dropped slightly in March, after February 2016, which was the fifth most lucrative month since sales began in January of 2014.
In 2014, Colorado marijuana outlets sold $699 million of product and followed that up with $996 million in 2015. If current sales persist throughout the year, 2016 could see $1 billion in sales. Colorado lawmakers are looking into repealing the Tiered purchasing system and if this goes through, out-of-state residents would be able to buy just as much as local residents can. Among Colorado’s tax collection was $13.3 million in 2014, $35 million in 2015, and $3.5 million in March which was raised by “the school-funding 15 percent exercise tax on retail purchases, which is aimed to provide funding for school construction. A new report estimates that retail marijuana sales in the U.S. will total $4.5 billion in 2016, that’s a lot of money!
