John Schroyer
In August, Colorado’s first-in-the-nation recreational cannabis market and its longstanding medical marijuana industry surpassed a historic milestone, having sold more than $15 billion in cannabis goods since the adult-use market launched on New Year’s Day in 2014.
According to statistics from the state Department of Revenue, the Colorado cannabis industry sold $132.4 million worth of marijuana in August, enough to push the state past the $15 billion mark, to a total sales peak of $15,028,995,376.
Still, a troubling downward sales trend is stalking the Colorado cannabis market. The amount sold in August is down by almost $5 million from July’s total of $137.3 million, and the state’s marijuana market overall has been struggling since the boom days of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Sales of medical marijuana accounted for $15.7 million of the August total, with adult-use products bringing in $116.8 million. Both categories are down from July’s tally of $16 million and $121.3 million, respectively.
If sales don’t pick up in the final quarter of 2023, full-year sales could be down from 2022, in which Colorado cannabis companies sold $1.7 billion, about the same as in 2019. As of the end of August, year-to-date sales totals were at just over $1 billion.
By contrast, the Colorado marijuana market sold almost $2.2 billion in 2020 and more than $2.2 billion in 2021, as many residents quarantined at home and enjoyed government stimulus checks.
The best sales month of the year thus far has been March, with $139.6 million in sales, while the worst was February with $124.8 million in sales.
