Colorado sold 17 tons of retail marijuana in first legal year

[Garion_55]

Source: http://www.msn.com

By Daniel Wallis
9 hrs ago

Consumers in Colorado bought more than 17 tons of recreational marijuana buds during the first year of the state's new retail market, but sales of medicinal pot still outstripped that at almost 50 tons, officials said on Friday.

In a national first, voters in Colorado and Washington state opted to legalize recreational marijuana use by adults in landmark twin ballots in 2012. The first retail stores opened in Colorado on Jan 1, 2014.

States such as Oregon and Alaska that have now also voted to legalize recreational pot, and others where lawmakers face proposals to do so, are watching the Colorado results closely.

State tax officials say sales hit nearly $700 million last year, with medical marijuana accounting for $386 million and recreational pot bringing in $313 million.

In its first annual report, the Colorado Department of Revenue's Marijuana Enforcement Division said 109,578 pounds (49.7 tons) of medical marijuana flowers were sold in 2014, while 38,660 pounds (17.5 tons) were sold on the retail market.

Read more: http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/colorado-sold-17-tons-of-retail-marijuana-in-first-legal-year/ar-BBi3i2G

[OnlinePoker]

1. Here's an interesting Reddit thread on how legalizing has effected police jobs

http://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/2xgwk3/police_officers_in_states_which_have_legalized/

[cui bono]

8. LOL... the discussion about police dogs is hilarious.

They have to retrain the dogs now to not identify weed. So people are talking about getting a retired police dog so they can find their misplaced weed, or to take to a new town to meet new friends.



I'm sure there's more serious discussion on there as well, but that was at the top and it cracked me up.

[Earth_First]

9. Interesting read...

Thanks for the link.

[geomon666]

2. It's a puke and blood filled hell hole now right?

Surely this whole recreational marijuana thing has backfired on them.

[A Simple Game]

3. Oh big whoop-de-do, I'm pretty sure I smoked that much in '72 by myself.

OK, so it was just Mexican, it was still a lot!

[krispos42]

4. 17 tons is 34,000 pounds is 544,000 ounces

How many joints can you get out of an ounce?

[jtuck004]

5. Oz is 28 grams, most joints a gram or less. But that's the old way. Now they

extract it with butane and the resulting 4 grams has all the thca, cbd, etc. The leaves then become compost.

And they rarely blow themselves up, and that only because the cities can't understand the simplicity of simply making it legal to cook - outside.

I use bubble bags, coconut oil, butter, no petrochemicals. Really good caramel, cupcakes. Want to get back to working on my pizza dough.

[wildbilln864]

21. about a gram per joint is a fatty, give or take, lol... n/t

[Helen Borg]

6. You know it's gonna spread...

When it makes the state 300M+ dollars!

[Sunlei]

7. and the tourist revenue billions & billions. Ski, bud & breakfast resorts packed with tourists.

Happy tourists from around the world.

[jomin41]

10. so 67 tons LEGAL...

How much "other" sales, do you think? Another 67 tons? I know the "traditional" markets are still around, and will remain.

[eggplant]

11. ?

There are "traditional" markets still around in CO and OR? Why would anyone bother going to a dealer for weed, when there are (literally) tons for sale legally?

Oh, and welcome to DU!

[Earth_First]

12. I could think of reasons why...

Identification is one of the top reasons why one would prefer the traditional route.

[eggplant]

13. I'll have to ask friends who live there.

Having to show ID wouldn't keep me from going retail (if I lived anywhere near there), and I could imagine that people who didn't want to show ID might have a friend go pick it up for them. But old habits die hard, and I can see some people sticking with their old dealer. I don't see new users going that route though.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

14. Iirc, 75% of the legal retail price is taxes. Price is most likely the issue.

[eggplant]

18. Taxes are low for people with a red card. Dispensary weed is taxed differently.

Or at least that's my understanding.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

20. All I know is I want another one of those lolly pops.

Next time, I won't eat it by myself and spend 4 hours sunk in a chair - unable to move, talk to my boyfriend on the phone, unable to feed the dog.

Dummy that I am. My friend warned me. But noooooo... I've been to 75 dead shows. I can handle it, I say. I was so embarrassed I didn't tell my boyfriend till a week later why I couldn't talk that day.

Next time I will share it with 5-8 people. What a waste.

[Comrade Grumpy]

15. Price. I paid $20 a gram by the time I walked out the door. Get it on the street for half that.

Plus you don't need no steenking ID.

[shaayecanaan]

16. Better make hay while the sun shines

you can bet that the growers paying those taxes are going to be gunning for the cops to take on the growers that aren't.

It'll be just like the war between bootleg tobacco growers and tobacco giants. Corporate bulls, Cessnas, spotlights at night, the works.

Welcome to the world of corporate marijuana. This is what you wished for, right?

[Comrade Grumpy]

17. I haven't seen any sign of that, and it would be a PR nightmare.

One of those capitalist vape manufacturers tried to institute drug testing and got scalded. They changed their tune.

[shaayecanaan]

22. It will come

Believe me, no one will willingly suffer paying 75% taxes while the guy down the road pays nothing.

Its true of the brothel industry, tobacco, casinos and alcohol. Most of the tipoffs about sly grog, bootleg tobacco, underground casinos and illegal brothels come from the regulated versions of all those industries.

[Yavin4]

19. How many tons of snack food were sold? n/t