Colorado sold $1.3 billion worth of marijuana in 2016
Its a billion-dollar business and then some.
In 2016, Colorados dispensaries bagged $1.3 billion in recreational and medical cannabis sales, based on Colorado Department of Revenue tax data released Thursday.
To put the states third year of regulated recreational marijuana sales in perspective, Year One totaled $699.2 million (combined with medical sales) and Year Two jumped up to $996.2 million. The trend should continue in Year Four, but beyond that? Its a murkier proposition.
Colorado has had a really good run, being the first mover, said Miles Light, an economist with the Marijuana Policy Group, which provides economic and market consulting services to legal cannabis markets. Now, as other states legalize, some of these external benefits that are occurring are going to be eroded.
Light noted that in 2017, none of the eight states that voted to legalize the medical or recreational use of marijuana will have implemented their regulations.
2016 was the year in which the $100-million-month became a baseline and heralded a record-breaking summer: The combined sales for July, August and September were $376.6 million.
Monthly sales topped $100 million in eight of the 12 months. In December, which is typically a strong month for cannabis transactions, pot shops sales were a little more than $114.7 million, a 13 percent increase from the $101.3 million recorded in December 2015.
Colorados third year of legal recreational marijuana sales also saw some external pressures, notably in the form of price drops on wholesale cannabis.
It was a difficult year, said Sally Vander Veer, president of Medicine Man, an operator of one of Denvers larger medical and retail dispensaries.
Were still seeing a steady increase in the number of customers and patients, but (sales) numbers are pretty flat, she said.
The Colorado Department of Revenues tax data dont provide information about transactions, so its difficult to know the impact of price declines on the overall sales totals. The data do show ...