Marijuana Sales 2016: Colorado's Cannabis Stores Sold Record $1 Billion Worth Of Weed In First 10 Months

Two years after legalizing the use of marijuana in the state, Colorado’s cannabis shops hit a new milestone. In the first 10 months of 2016, weed stores in the state have reached $1 billion in legal, regulated sales of the drug.

According to the October data from the Colorado’s Department of Revenue, the state, which was the first in the country to have legalized cannabis use, has sold nearly $1.1 billion worth of marijuana and marijuana-related products.

Leading industry attorney Vincente Sederberg told the Cannabist Monday: “We think we’ll see $1.3 billion in sales revenue this year and so the economic impact of this industry — if we’re using the same multiplier from the Marijuana Policy Group’s recent report, which is totally reasonable — it suddenly eclipses a $3 billion economic impact for 2016.”

Nearly $82.8 million of recreational marijuana and over $35 million of medical cannabis was sold in Colorado in October 2016. Sales, however, fall shy of September's all-time high of $127.8 million.

The state hit another milestone with the number of marijuana business licenses showing a sharp rise by about 70 percent. Assistant Professor Paul Seaborn of the University of Denver’s Daniels College of Business reportedly said active marijuana business licenses are at their highest with 2,913, licenses as of Dec. 1.

However, Florida is projected to give both Colorado and California a run for their money by 2020. The state, which recently legalized the use of medical marijuana, is projected to take over 7.5 percent of the total legal U.S. cannabis market and 14 percent of the medical marijuana market by 2020.

The New Frontier Data report said Florida’s marijuana market has the potential to grow to $1.6 million by 2020 compared to California’s projected $2.6 billion market, easily beating Colorado’s projected $1.5 billion medical marijuana market.