And everywhere you look, the numbers reflect that. For the first time since adult-use sales launched in 2014 in Colorado—a pioneer of the recreational market—combined sales dropped year-over-year, and by a whopping 21%, according to figures from the state’s Department of Revenue (DOR). And in Denver County, where L’Eagle operates, sales were down by more than 30% year-over-year, according to the DOR and reporting from Cannabis Business Times. The start of 2023 was not promising, either: Combined medical and adult-use April sales, generally bolstered by the 4/20 industry holiday, were $132 million, down from $153 million in 2022 and $206 million in 2021. In April 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic inflated demand, sales were $135.9 million.
To keep up with what ended up being a temporary surge in 2020 and 2021, more growers pursued licenses and cultivators expanded operations, flooding the market with product and compressing prices. Average total cultivated plants in both programs was nearly 847,700 in March 2023, down from a daily plant count peak of more than 1.315 million plants in the adult-use program alone, reported on Sept. 6, 2021, and nearly 401,000 in the medical program on Sept. 22, 2021. Since April 2022, the average market rate for a pound of dried cannabis flower has been less than $800, hitting a low of $649 this past April. Anecdotally, business owners say some growers are selling for much less.
