Colorado has seen record numbers when it comes to sales and taxes from sales of cannabis in the state. So much, that hearing $100 million dollars in sales monthly is the new normal.
Per The Cannabist
Chalk up another milestone month for Colorado cannabis sales.
The $127.7 million worth of flower, edibles and concentrates purchased in May from the state’s marijuana shops didn’t set a record for monthly sales, though. That honor still goes to March of this year, when sales totaled $131.7 million, according to The Cannabist’s extrapolations of Colorado marijuana tax data.
May’s benchmark, rather, is one of consistency.
It marked the 12th consecutive month that Colorado marijuana sales topped $100 million.
“I think that $100 million a month (in sales) are the new norm,” said Bethany Gomez, director of research for Brightfield Group, a market research firm focused on the cannabis industry.
Some notable stats from the 12-month run:
- Altogether, the monthly sales reached $1.4 billion.
- Colorado collected nearly $223 million in taxes and license fees.
- Recreational sales have consistently taken a two-thirds share of the monthly totals.
For May, recreational-use sales accounted for about $90.1 million and those from medical marijuana contributed just over $37.5 million.
The industry’s 2017 cumulative sales through five months neared $620 million, generating close to $96 million in state revenue from taxes and fees, The Cannabist’s calculations show.
Total sales for the first five months of 2017 were up roughly 27 percent from the same period last year. And that year-to-date growth rate has held steady for two months in a row.
Colorado’s marijuana industry remains in expansion mode, Gomez said, but the sales trends are indicative that the market is approaching maturity.
Those are huge numbers to be playing with. Read the full story here