Colorado’s recreational marijuana consumers spent more than $158 million at state-sanctioned shops in June, a 6 percent jump from the previous single-month record set the previous month and a sign that the pandemic has been a boon to the cannabis industry, especially where the groundwork was laid by years of business development, the Denver Post reports. This year Colorado is on pace to crush 2019’s record of $1.75 billion in cannabis industry sales, with $978.35 million in sales through June.
Per capita sales in Colorado hit $290 last year, according to the company, nearly double the rate in 2014, the first year of legal recreational sales in the state. The number of Colorado adults who said they had consumed cannabis in the last six months hit 42 percent in the third quarter of 2019, up from 24 percent in the third quarter of 2017. Boulder-based industry analysis firm BDSA cited factors contributing to the boom in sales, including “improved product availability and growing acceptance of cannabis use.” State revenue collected from marijuana businesses so far in 2020 exceeds $203.3 million, according to the latest state report. The state brought in roughly $302.5 million in cannabis-related revenue in 2019.