Colorado retailers have sold more than $15 billion worth of legal marijuana products since the state’s first adult-use retailers opened in 2014—and that has generated more than $2.5 billion in cannabis tax revenue to support public programs and services—state officials have announced.
As of August, Colorado has seen $15,028,995,376 in total legal cannabis sales. In 2023 alone so far, marijuana sales have amounted to $1,052,517,913.
The tax revenue from the last nine years of legalization stands at $2,554,160,551 as of September, the Colorado Department of Revenue (CDOR) said in a press release on Wednesday.
Colorado was the first state to launch recreational marijuana sales following voters’ approval of a legalization initiative at the ballot in 2012. Annual sales peaked in 2021, when they reached about $2.2 billion, but they’ve since declined and largely leveled out in the past two years.
An analysis from the state’s nonpartisan Legislative Council Staff (LCS) that was released in August also showed that Colorado generated more tax revenue from marijuana than alcohol or cigarettes during the last fiscal year, with $280 million in cannabis tax dollars going toward a variety of government programs and services like K–12 education and health care.
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