Cheaper Cannabis Leads to Falling Revenue in Colorado Marijuana Sales

Jacqueline Collins

Audio By Carbonatix

[
          {
            "name": "GPT - Billboard - Slot Inline - Content - Labeled - No Desktop",
            "component": "23668565",
            "insertPoint": "2",
            "requiredCountToDisplay": "2"
          },{
            "name": "STN Player - Float - Mobile Only ",
            "component": "23853568",
            "insertPoint": "2",
            "requiredCountToDisplay": "2"
          },{
            "name": "Editor Picks",
            "component": "17242653",
            "insertPoint": "4",
            "requiredCountToDisplay": "1"
          },{
            "name": "Inline Links",
            "component": "18838239",
            "insertPoint": "8th",
            "startingPoint": 8,
            "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
            "maxInsertions": 25
          },{
            "name": "GPT - 2x Rectangles Desktop, Tower on Mobile - Labeled",
            "component": "24956856",
            "insertPoint": "8th",
            "startingPoint": 8,
            "requiredCountToDisplay": "7",
            "maxInsertions": 25 
          
          },{
            "name": "Inline Links",
            "component": "18838239",
            "insertPoint": "8th",
            "startingPoint": 12,
            "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
            "maxInsertions": 25
          },{
            "name": "GPT - Leaderboard to Tower - Slot Auto-select - Labeled",
            "component": "17676724",
            "insertPoint": "8th",
            "startingPoint": 12,
            "requiredCountToDisplay": "11",
            "maxInsertions": 25
          }
        ]

Total revenue collected from legal cannabis sales in Colorado fell again in May, according to Colorado Department of Revenue data. Legal pot sales accounted for about $122.9 million in May, DOR records show, slipping over $1.4 million from April's total and dipping slightly below sales in May 2017.

This past May was the second straight month of declining sales, after Colorado saw the highest recreational sales numbers ever in March, nearly $106 million. That record-breaking retail total fell to $96.9 million in May, however, with medical sales bringing in $26.2 million. That's the lowest number for medical sales since the DOR began tracking them in 2014.

Although the continued weakening of the medical market isn't helping the industry's numbers, there are more factors at play. The DOR recently estimated that a pound of retail cannabis flower costs $846 on average, while pounds of trim average out to $404 — decreases of 16.4 and 42.3 percent, respectively, from last year. In 2015, the DOR estimated the average cost for a pound of cannabis flower at $2,007.

click to enlarge

Legal marijuana sales since 2014.

Colorado Department of Revenue