Since its opening on January 1, the Colorado recreational marijuana market has been steadily growing.
Between the months of July and August, legal marijuana sales in Colorado — both recreational and medical — jumped another 10 percent. Reports now indicate that Colorado has earned $45.2 million via taxes and license fees for the nascent industry since the start of 2014.
According to new numbers released by the Colorado Department of Revenue, the month of August saw $33 million worth of recreational marijuana purchased by consumers in Colorado. An additional $32.2 million worth of medical marijuana was sold in dispensaries. In total, the first eight months of 2014 boasted approximately $180 million worth of recreational marijuana sold, while MMJ dispensaries raked in about $255 million.
Recreational sales first began to outpace medical sales in July, and though the monthly difference currently appears to be less than $1 million worth of product, such differences are expected to become even more distinct with time as additional recreational businesses are launched.
“Every day that goes by, or at least every week, we have new recreational marijuana businesses opening in Colorado, and that helps explain the increase in tax revenue,” said Mark Elliott, the executive director of Colorado’s Marijuana Industry Group. “Within the next month we’ll have the first shops opening in Aurora, which is a huge city. What we’re probably going to see is a huge bump in the recreational sales numbers beginning in another month or two because of Aurora coming on line.”
Sources:
http://mmjbusinessdaily.com/colorado-marijuana-sales-balloon-11-in-august/
Photo Credit: MarihuanayMedicina