Marijuana Sales In Colorado Hit $1 Billion In 8 Months

Marijuana sales in Colorado hit $1 billion in a record eight months, according to data analysis from the Denver Post’s weed site, The Cannabist Tuesday. This is the second year in a row that the industry has made $1 billion in sales.

Last year it took ten months to hit the $1 billion mark in combined recreational and medical marijuana sales. Colorado legalized recreational marijuana in 2012 and sales began in January of 2014.

The 2014 sales of marijuana were $699,198,805 and the 2015 sales were $996,184,788. Last year Colorado sales of Marijuana hit just above $1.3 billion.

As of August last year, marijuana sales hovered around $846 million, meaning that sales are up 21 percent this year.

Big money for retailers also means big money for the state.

Colorado will pull in around $137 million in taxes and fees from the marijuana industry. A new law increased the tax on recreational marijuana to 15 percent from 10 percent in July. The law also exempted recreational marijuana accessories from the standard 2.9 percent sales tax. Medical marijuana accessories are still subject to that tax.

Economists expect the market's growth to slow as more states get in on the action.

Nevada began selling recreational marijuana in July and in its first month sold $27.1 million worth of weed, according to the Reno Gazette-Journal. That’s a faster first month than Colorado, Washington, and Oregon.

Marijuana sales in Oregon last year are estimated to have been around $241 million, according to the Register-Guard.