{"id":8627,"date":"2019-02-12T19:25:03","date_gmt":"2019-02-12T19:25:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/?p=3356001"},"modified":"2019-02-12T19:25:03","modified_gmt":"2019-02-12T19:25:03","slug":"colorado-marijuana-sales-crack-6-billion-since-2014-legalization-state-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/colorado-marijuana-sales-crack-6-billion-since-2014-legalization-state-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Colorado marijuana sales crack $6 billion since 2014 legalization, state says"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"wp_fb_like_button\" style=\"margin:5px 0 5px 5px;float:right;height:100px;\"><script src=\"http:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/all.js#xfbml=1\"><\/script><fb:like href=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/colorado-marijuana-sales-crack-6-billion-since-2014-legalization-state-says\/\" send=\"true\" layout=\"standard\" width=\"450\" show_faces=\"false\" font=\"arial\" action=\"like\" colorscheme=\"light\"><\/fb:like><\/div><div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<div><img src=\"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/colorado-marijuana-sales-crack-6-billion-since-2014-legalization-state-says.jpg\" class=\"ff-og-image-inserted\" \/><\/div>\n<p>Colorado marijuana businesses have sold more than $6 billion worth of weed and related products since a voter-approved measure allowing adults over the age of 21 to consume recreational pot <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2014\/02\/08\/legalized-marijuana-10-defining-moments-of-jan-2014\/\">took effect in the state on Jan. 1, 2014<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The milestone figure was highlighted Tuesday\u00a0in a news release from the Colorado Department of Revenue\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colorado.gov\/pacific\/revenue\/media-center-marijuana-enforcement-division\">Marijuana Enforcement Division<\/a>, the agency tasked with overseeing both recreational and medical cannabis businesses in the state.<\/p>\n<p>Colorado crossed the $6 billion sales threshold thanks to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2018\/02\/10\/colorado-pot-sales-2017-border-towns\/\">a record-setting 2018<\/a>. Sales surpassed $1.55 billion for the year, beating the record of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2018\/02\/10\/colorado-pot-sales-2017-border-towns\/\">more than $1.51 billion set in 2017<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The sales have Colorado on the cusp of another milestone: $1 billion in marijuana tax, licensing and fee revenue. As of the end of January, the state had collected $927 million from those categories \u2014 covering both recreational and medical marijuana businesses \u2014 since adult-use pot became legal in 2014. Colorado collected more than $266.5 million in taxes, fees and licensing payments in 2018 alone.\u00a0<\/p>\n<aside class=\"related right\" \/>\n<p>Many in the state have questioned <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2019\/02\/11\/marijuana-money-denver-teachers-strike\/\">why marijuana tax money can\u2019t be tapped to pay striking Denver Public Schools teachers more money<\/a>, but the system set up under Amendment 64, the measure that greenlighted recreational\u00a0pot use in Colorado, earmarks that revenue for school repairs and construction and other programs, not teacher pay.<\/p>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.denverpost.com\/2018\/10\/26\/colorado-marijuana-impact-report\/\">baseline report covering the state\u2019s first five years of legal rec sales<\/a> released last year found that youth use had not increased\u00a0over that time, but pinpointed stoned driving and an increase in organized crime activities as areas of concern.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"media_block\"><\/div>\n<p>Colorado marijuana businesses have sold more than $6 billion worth of weed and related products since a voter-approved measure allowing adults over the age of 21 to consume recreational pot took effect in the state on Jan. 1, 2014. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5062,52,1867,7347,6811,376,6908,6813,77,6858,56,9,6882,5019,6845,1,3,61,1736],"tags":[5063,2632,4435,7348,6816,2954,6910,6818,2655,6860,2636,6883,5022,6846],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8627"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8627"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8627\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8627"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8627"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannitrol.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8627"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}