Colorado Sets New Record for Cannabis Sales
June was an excellent month for marijuana product sales in Colorado. In Colorado history, there has never been a month where marijuana product sales hit an impressive $150million. This has happened during the COVID-19 pandemic period, and Colorado doesn’t seem to be easing up on the sale of its cannabis products.
An Impressive 6% Increase
According to the Department of Revenue’s Marijuana Enforcement Division, recreational marijuana consumers bought $158,102,628 worth of recreational cannabis. This was an impressive 6% increase of the past month of May recreational sales record of $149, 186, 615, as per the state data.
The recreational shops sold roughly $122.4 million in products in June.
According to state data, before 2020, the monthly recreational sales had only surpassed $140 million once in August of 2019. That month, the dispensaries combined and sold $173,219,859 worth of products.
As for medical marijuana sales, they plummeted a bit in June. After setting a new record with sales of $42,989,322 in May. According to the MED’S monthly sales report, the medical dispensaries also sold $40,770,582 worth of products in the month. It is evident that the industry set a record for total business volume.
State data shows that when combined, recreational and medical dispensaries sold
$198,873, 210 worth of products in June.
This was a significant increase of 3.5% over the record-breaking sales of May, whose sales were a total of $192,175,937.
Surpass last year’s sales
By the look of things, this year might just crush 2019’s record of $1.75 billion in marijuana industry sales. By June of this year, the cannabis industry sales were $978.35 million, which is more than $817.71 million June sales of 2019. This year is well on its way to crushing the 2019’s record of cannabis industry sales and by a wide margin.
Denver had been affected by the coronavirus-related industry shutdowns in March. Despite that the sales this year have been as high as no other year. According to Boulder-based industry analysis firm BDSA, the top sales can be attributed to the years of maturation in the state’s legal cannabis ecosystem. The capita sales in Colorado hit $290 last year which is nearly double the $150 per capita recorded back in 2014, the first year that
recreational sales became legal in the state.
Increased Adult Consumption
Also, the number of Colorado adults that said they had consumed cannabis in the last six months was 42% in the previous quarter of 2019. This was an increase from 24% in the third quarter of 2017.
“In existing adult-use states, there are three main drivers of continued growth,” BDSA’s report says. “Further proliferation of new cannabis products that appeal to new consumers’ needs and desires; improved product availability; and growing acceptance of cannabis use.”
$33.62 million is what the Colorado Department of Revenue collected in taxes and fees on cannabis sales and businesses in June. Tax reports come first before sales reports. The $36.13 million in taxes and fees that the state reported collecting in July was evidence that the month had raked in considerable numbers in cannabis sales.
According to the latest state report, what the state revenue collected from cannabis businesses in 2020 so far has exceeded
203.3million. The year is not over yet, but all the signs indicate that this year’s cannabis-related revenue collection will surpass the $302.5 million collected in 2019.