DENVER (AP) — Colorado marijuana sales have surpassed $10 billion since the state’s recreational market began in 2014 — thanks in large part to a record-setting 2020 in which businesses sold $2.2 billion worth of cannabis.
The Denver Post reports that the sale of nearly $152 million in recreational pot and nearly $36 million in medical marijuana in January alone pushed total sales since 2014 to $10.2 billion, according to Department of Revenue data released this week.
January sales were nearly 35% percent higher than they were in January 2020. State revenues in taxes and fees were nearly $35 million in January.
Colorado voters in 2012 approved a constitutional amendment broadly permitting the sale and use of marijuana for adults. Sales began two years later.
State lawmakers are working on legislation that could cap the potency of THC, the drug’s psychoactive compound, for cannabis concentrates, require that residents seek medical use cards in person only, and improve data collection to more strictly enforce limits on purchases.
