VS Strategies, a pro-legalization research company in Denver, says the state has pulled in $506 million since retail sales began in January 2014. That includes taxes and fees from medical marijuana, which was legalized years earlier, but the vast majority of the revenue came from recreational.
Colorado was the first state to legalize recreational cannabis, so its market is the most mature. And lawmakers and entrepreneurs in other states, and other countries, look at Colorado as a measuring stick.
STATE BY STATE: Colorado Cannabis News
Revenue from taxes and fees has increased each year, from $76 million in 2014 to $200 million last year, and the state is on track to beat that this year, according to VS Strategies, which used state revenue data in its report Wednesday.
Colorado has spent most of the money on schools, the research company says. Smaller chunks have gone to drug prevention and treatment programs and to regulating the marijuana industry.
