Colorado weed sales top $100mn for 12th consecutive month

Legal marijuana is big business in Colorado. May marked the 12th consecutive month weed sales exceeded $100 million.

Colorado outlet The Cannabist has calculated that the state sold $127 million worth of marijuana products in May 2017 alone, the 12 month in a row sales have topped the $100 million mark.

The total haul from marijuana sales over the last 12 months for the Centennial State now stands at $1.4 billion, bringing in just over $223 million in marijuana taxes, licenses, and fees, according to the data published on the Colorado’s Department of Revenue website.

One of the offshoots of this relatively new revenue stream is the state’s public school system, which, as the Revenue department notes, is allocated $40 million each year. This sum is “transferred to the public school capital construction assistance fund and any amount remaining shall be transferred to the public school fund.”

Legal marijuana is fast becoming an essential part of the economy for many US states, and while Colorado may be reaping the benefits, other states have had some unforeseen issues to deal with.

On July 1, Nevada opened the market for recreational weed use and sales boomed across the 47 state sanctioned retailers. By July 5, however, there weren’t enough licensed marijuana distributors, prompting the Nevada Tax Commission to pass a new regulation addressing the shortage on Thursday.

The commission had previously issued a ‘statement of emergency’ to get the weed supply flowing and boost tax revenue from the herb.

“Without the retail sale of marijuana, the State will not realize the revenue on which the State budget relies,” the statement reads.

The emergency legislation was also seen as a method to ensure that marijuana users don’t return to buying their products on the black market, resulting in job losses for those gainfully employed in the legal weed retail sector.

“These businesses have recently hired and trained thousands of additional employees to meet the increased demand of adult-use. Unless the issue with distributor licensing is resolved quickly the inability to deliver product to the retail stores will result in many of these employees losing their jobs,” the commission stated.