Colorado Cannabis Industry Makes More Money than Several Countries
Colorado has been reaping the financial success of cannabis longer than almost any other state in the country. It is so profitable in fact, that its revenue now exceeds that of some countries.
The Colorado Department of Revenue is reporting that $1.3 billion of revenue was generated in 2016 from both recreational and medical cannabis. Those figures eclipse the GDP of 19 nations in the world. Of that money, $200 million of tax revenue was created for the state.
Last year Colorado generated $996 million in cannabis sales, up from $699 million in 2014.
According to the Acrview Market Research Group, $53.3 billion was spent on cannabis in North America in 2016. Arcview further estimates that 87 percent of those sales were from the black market, and thus the country missed out on an opportunity to tax a product with an incredible demand.
“[Colorado’s tax revenue] is just the tip of the iceberg,” communications director Mason Tvert of the Denver-based Marijuana Policy Project said in a statement. “The state is also reaping the invaluable public health and safety benefits of replacing an underground market with a tightly regulated system.”
Some experts feel that an influx of emerging recreational cannabis markets, like California, may cause Colorado’s sales figures to level off in 2017. Many industry insiders think this could also drive down the price of cannabis within the state.
“Colorado has had a really good run, being the first mover,” Miles Light, an economist with the Marijuana Policy Group, told The Denver Post’s Cannabist blog this week. “Now, as other states legalize, some of these external benefits that are occurring are going to be eroded.”
Others within the industry are holding their breath to see how new president Trump will handle the cannabis industry, especially in light of his pick for Attorney General, Jeff Sessions. Sessions has a history of speaking out against cannabis, but according to white house press secretary Sean Spicer, “When you come into a Trump administration, it’s the Trump agenda that you are implementing, not your own.”
