Colorado Cannabis Sales Continue Falling

In May, Colorado marijuana sales continued to plummet as a statewide industry slump hammers businesses, with sales hovering near their lowest point in four years.

According to figures from the state Department of Revenue, Colorado sold a grand total of $126 million in both recreational and medical marijuana for the month of May, including $15 million in medical and $111 million in recreational.

That’s down from $131 million in April, but February so far has been the worst sales month of the year, with just $124 million.

Sales haven’t been that low since February 2019, when Colorado marijuana businesses sold $119 million, according to state data.

So far this year, Colorado has sold a total of $651.4 million in cannabis, and if sales don’t see a noticeable uptick for the rest of 2023, the annual tally may come in at $1.56 billion, which would be a 12% decrease in sales from 2022, Westword reported.

The nation’s oldest adult-use cannabis market, which launched in 2014, has been hurting in recent months as more states open up their own recreational marijuana sales – including neighboring New Mexico in April 2022 – and as the industry’s artificial sales bump from the COVID pandemic eases back down to earth.

In the past two years, wholesale cannabis prices in Colorado have plummeted 60%, Westword reported, and the market has contracted from about 3,500 companies to 2,700 in the same timeframe.

Though wholesale prices have been stabilizing recently, the industry has shed thousands of jobs and is still reeling from the downturn.