Colorado Springs Marijuana dispensaries closing after failure of recreational sales question
Dispensaries Closing in Colorado Springs After Voters Reject Legalization.
Since voters declined to legalize recreational marijuana sales in Colorado Springs in November 2022, dispensaries in town have started to close as proponents of the ballot question predicted.
The number of medical marijuana dispensaries in town is down from 114 to 96 since the ballot question, city data shows. Once dispensary licenses are surrendered to the city, they are no longer available and so the number can never rise.
Statewide issues, such as low prices, have hurt the industry and those problems have been compounded by the lack of recreational sales, said Liz Zukowski, a spokeswoman for Native Roots. The company operates locations across the state and in Colorado Springs.
Colorado has seen marijuana sales drop dramatically as other states have legalized it. Twenty-four states and the District of Columbia now allow recreational marijuana. A change in the 2018 Farm Bill has also given rise to the sale of THC products derived from hemp in states where recreational marijuana is not legal. For example, Delta-8 products are common in Texas and they can also be ordered online.
As marijuana tourism has fallen, so has the price of marijuana.
Those factors and others are hitting the industry hard causing stores and marijuana grows to close.
“We have seen 10,000 jobs lost,” Zukowski said, addressing the statewide trend.
