Colorado Reaches $1Billion in Sales Faster Than Ever

Not even three years old, the Colorado cannabis industry is thriving.

And 2017 sales will help continue its record-breaking trend, as the state has reached $1Billion in sales through September, faster than all previous years.

The record breaking pace was evident at the June 2017 mid-point, when Colorado cannabis sales were already $750M. That was an increase of over 25% compared with the first half of 2016.

In July, US News and World Report wrote that "The centennial state legalized medical marijuana in 2000 and became the first state to legalize recreational weed sales to adults in January 2014. Between 2014 and May 31 of this year, cumulative cannabis sales have generated $506 million in tax revenue, VS Strategies, a pro-legalization research company in Denver, finds." [emphasis added]

About half of those tax revenues have gone to K-12 education in Colorado, and about 25% are "split between regulation substance abuse prevention and treatment programs."

To help visualize all this data, here's a terrific graphic by Kevin Hamm at the Denver Post:

Graphic source: theCannabist.co, who sourced it from the Denver Post