Colorado’s Cannabis sales surpass $15B but slowdown continues
Colorado has now seen more than $15bn generated through the legal sale of cannabis since 2014, when it became the first US state to launch adult-use sales.
The Colorado Department of Revenue published new sales figures in a press release earlier this week, revealing that the state has now secured $2.5bn in tax revenues from cannabis sales.
In the first eight months of 2023 (January to August), sales have topped just over $1bn, with $132.4m in both medical and adult-use cannabis being sold in August alone.
Despite this milestone, the state has been experiencing a gradual but concerning slowdown in sales since a monthly sales peak in 2020.
At the height of the COVID pandemic, in July 2020, total cannabis sales topped $226.3m, but have since declined, and have come below $150m a month since August 2022.
Unless the state sees a significant boom in sales throughout the rest of 2023, its likely sales will be down year-on-year for a second year running.
In 2021 total sales topped $2.28bn, coming slightly above 2020’s $2.19bn and marking the high water mark for state sales. In 2022, this figure fell to $1.77bn, marking a 25% decline.
