By Trace William Cowen
Student of Pop Culture // Twitter: @TraceCowen
Colorado's green is earning them a lot of green. Though last year's tax revenues of $44 million for legal weed in the increasingly green state fell short of experts' initial projection of $70 million, 2015's haul is now on pace to potentially double that figure. “You can’t show up to a dinner party with a few joints yet, like you would a bottle of wine,” Colorado Harvey Company CEO Tim Cullen jokes. “But we’re not far from it.”
Though it kind of sounds like Cullen just needs to go to better dinner parties, his assertion on the continued widespread acceptance of weed as simply no big deal is accurate. According to the Guardian, the first seven months of 2015 have already soaked up $73.5 million dollars. If the current rate of weed consumption continues, that puts Colorado well on its way to a bragworthy annual haul of at least $125 million.
Early sales figures were potentially impacted by a supposed "scarcity" of recreational weed facilities in 2014, though the state now boasts "hundreds" of recreational weed shops. "Ask any business owner now how hard it is getting your business approved and getting your license,” a representative from the Colorado Cannabis Chamber of Commerce tells the Guardian. “We had a lot of new businesses and people getting on the market, but unfortunately weren’t able to come online right away.”
Though an impressive number of Colorado residents might very well be completely blazed right now, not all of this profound tax revenue boost can be attributed to locals. Though tourism figures for 2015 aren't currently available, the previous year was a record-smashing year for both out-of-state visitors and their bottomless wallets.
Whole squad high.
Student of Pop Culture // Twitter: @TraceCowen
Colorado's green is earning them a lot of green. Though last year's tax revenues of $44 million for legal weed in the increasingly green state fell short of experts' initial projection of $70 million, 2015's haul is now on pace to potentially double that figure. “You can’t show up to a dinner party with a few joints yet, like you would a bottle of wine,” Colorado Harvey Company CEO Tim Cullen jokes. “But we’re not far from it.”
Though it kind of sounds like Cullen just needs to go to better dinner parties, his assertion on the continued widespread acceptance of weed as simply no big deal is accurate. According to the Guardian, the first seven months of 2015 have already soaked up $73.5 million dollars. If the current rate of weed consumption continues, that puts Colorado well on its way to a bragworthy annual haul of at least $125 million.
Early sales figures were potentially impacted by a supposed "scarcity" of recreational weed facilities in 2014, though the state now boasts "hundreds" of recreational weed shops. "Ask any business owner now how hard it is getting your business approved and getting your license,” a representative from the Colorado Cannabis Chamber of Commerce tells the Guardian. “We had a lot of new businesses and people getting on the market, but unfortunately weren’t able to come online right away.”
Though an impressive number of Colorado residents might very well be completely blazed right now, not all of this profound tax revenue boost can be attributed to locals. Though tourism figures for 2015 aren't currently available, the previous year was a record-smashing year for both out-of-state visitors and their bottomless wallets.
Whole squad high.
