Colorado State Estimates That Pot Shops Could Make Almost $600 Million With Taxes Alone!

The first 7 days of the year aren't even wrapped up and the numbers are already piling up. According to local Channel 9 News, "Pot shops did record sales compared to the medical marijuana days on Wednesday when recreational marijuana opened. Pot shop owners across Colorado believe they collectively made more than $1 million statewide". According to the Wall Street Journal "Colorado imposes a 25% markup using sales taxes for wholesale processors and store fronts, on top of other state and local taxes. Legalization advocates predict a revenue windfall, but that won't accrue if underlying pretax prices plunge." Read more here. The Raw Story weighs in with "State officials here anticipate that marijuana sales will generate some $67 million in annual tax revenue" Rolling Stone starts a 4 page article with "Legal marijuana in America is now estimated to be a $1.43 billion industry. And it's expected to grow to $2.34 billion in 2014. If those numbers hold, the 64 percent increase - a steeper trend line than global smartphone sales - would make pot one of the world's fastest-growing business sectors."

The Obama Administration has given the thumbs up for the states of Washington and Colorado to go ahead with their policy and social experiments of cannabis legalization. This is a big step but we need to make sure that the experiments go well. That's going to take education, outreach, and lobbying. 




~interesting note....The DOJ website list 8 priorities that will guide the department's enforcement but won't allow you to copy and paste the guidelines on their document!

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