Colorado passes more than $1 billion in marijuana revenue

Five years after it began selling recreational marijuana, Colorado has generated more than $1 billion in marijuana revenue.

The Colorado Department of Revenue reported that the state has seen more than $6 billion in total sales since it began selling cannabis in 2014. Colorado saw more than $6.5 billion at the end of last month, according to state data.

The state reported that there are nearly 3,000 licensed marijuana businesses in the state employing roughly 41,000 people.

“The cannabis industry in Colorado is thriving – the state has reached $1 billion in marijuana tax revenue,” Colorado Gov. Jared Polis (D) announced on Twitter on Wednesday.

“We must continue to lead the way,” he continued. “We want Colorado to be the best state for investment, innovation and development for this growing economic sector.”



According to the data, April and May were the highest-grossing months for marijuana revenue in the past five years.

The state collects a 2.9 percent sales tax on medical marijuana, a 15 percent special sales tax on retail marijuana and a 15 percent excise tax on retail marijuana, CBS Denver noted.

Revenue from marijuana sales has been used to help fund a number of efforts across the state, including youth prevention initiatives, behavioral health treatment and the licensing of legal marijuana businesses.

Jim Burack, the director of the department’s marijuana enforcement division, said the department is committed to “facilitating responsible innovation within this dynamic industry through continued engagement with our diverse group of stakeholders” and added that Colorado “will continue to be known for its regulatory leadership.”

https://thehill.com/homenews/state-watch...rijuana-revenue

That's like a billion dollars in found money for Colorado! Good for them. Makes other states look stupid.

So nice. My hope is we can decriminalize it soon.

This is the first step....once all drugs are decriminalized, then our police can start going after actual criminals...

It will happen nationwide eventually, some states are a little slow to get on the trolley. A little slow to be progressive, they resist change.

These are the states that vote republican, you will be the last to adopt to change, which is nothing new.

Good for them. Now, before anyone gets upset, let me explain.

It took 5 plus years. Regardless, it's still a billion dollars in tax. That's a lot, no matter how you slice it.

I am not FOR legalizing pot, nor am I against legalizing it.

I would like to know how much of that tax money went toward Colorado's debt. (and yes, they have debt) as opposed to how much of it went to new gov't. programs that use that money to even exist. I don't have any guess as to the ratios, so I'm not making a judgment.


BUT, my over riding point is, as in ALL politics (and usually life) follow the money. The state has a deficit, according to this article: https://www.thecentersquare.com/colorado...99d817d74a.html

If this link works: https://r.search.yahoo.com/_ylt=A2KLfS53tgFd.fwAmBlXNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTByZnU4cmNpBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwM5BHZ0aWQDBHNlYwNzcg--/RV=2/RE=1560422135/RO=10/RU=https%3a%2f%2fwww.statedatalab.org%2flibrary%2fdoclib%2f50_State_Final_2008.pdf/RK=2/RS=tLbL3xAnbne6J2LVyUTLib8BQF4-

you can see how states that are required to have a balanced budget get around it - not having a balanced budget, by undereporting future expenses. Kinda sorta exactly what the fed. gov't. does.

Regardless, good for Colorado. They are attempting to gain more tax money by legalizing something. Not for the good of their state citizens, but for the good of the state coffers.

I'm going to Colorado in a few weeks.

Yet they keep telling us they don't have money for anything.

It was my understanding a majority of that goes toward education, like 40%, the rest divvied up to a handful of programs.

That's a big 'carbon footprint' yes/no?

Because they don't. What the marijuana tax is contributing is less than 1% of the total state budget.. and if folks weren't spending it on weed, they would be spending it on something else, so the entire weed tax is not found money, some of it is because weed is taxed at a higher rate than other stuff.

We've all seen this before..

Legalize the lottery, it will fix all of our education funding problems.
Legalize casinos, the taxes and economic boom will fix so many of our problems.
Legalize weed, the taxes will fix so many of our problems.

None of it is fixing problems...

You seem to forget that people were already spending that money on weed and gambling. That or just leaving that part out. I'm old enough to remember getting Irish Sweepstakes tickets before Ohio had a lottery.

People who want to gamble are going to gamble and that money is still going to be spent on gambling. People who smoke weed were and are still going to smoke weed. So it is "found money". It's being taken from illegal sources and funneled into the tax base.

It was never meant to be the end all solution, to any state's financial situation.

Millions of dollars every year to the state, should be better than going to the black market. Unless I am missing something.

This - and 'legalize pot because it is less harmful to society than alcohol' .... the revenue is a bonus, and the revenue is not the answer to mismanaged and unbalanced spending.

Really? It doesn’t fix anything?
Millions of dollars saved from prosecution and incarceration of pot offenders.
The overburdened court systems alone has been relieved of hundreds of thousands of cases.
It works as a get-a-way drug to escape opium addiction.
Some proceeds go to drug recovery, rehabilitation and mental health programs that were never there.

Nay sayers will always be nay sayers. Nothing new. Nothing positive. It’s always a negative stance.

“It never fixes anything when it’s legalized, so let’s keep it illegal”.

That’s a pretty weak argument bro.

Fixes my arthritis and neuropathy pain, without addiction or serious side effects.

I never said it didn't fix "anything".. I said I get tired of hearing how it's going to fix "EVERYTHING"..

Continue your rant.

Well you said it wasn't "found money" which it most certainly is. Before that money was going on the balck market. It was already being spent. Your claim is that if it weren't legal people would be spending that money on other things.

No, they were spending that money before on weed. The proceeds just weren't going to legal businesses or adding anything to the tax base.

Do you ever whine and moan about the debt that Fortune 500 companies owe? Debt is useful in growing businesses and economies.