Ask a Stoner: Has Colorado's Pot Bubble Burst Yet?

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Dear Stoner: Has Colorado's weed bubble popped now that all of these other places allow it? It's not just a few states anymore.
Ryan

Dear Ryan: Maybe a slow deflation. Our crystal ball is too hotboxed to see through, though, so let’s travel backward to gauge what to anticipate for Colorado’s cannabis industry. The country’s largest statewide market, California, has allowed recreational pot sales since the beginning of 2018, the same year that Colorado broke its own annual record for weed sales...only to break it again in 2019. More Colorado towns than ever before allow dispensaries, and if you count the hemp and CBD spaces, we’re still a cannabis epicenter. But that growth will slow at some point.

click to enlarge

Jacqueline Collins

A recent state report showed that taxable revenue from dispensary marijuana sales is expected to reach around 10.4 percent growth from July 2019 through June of this year, then drop to 1.4 percent during the same span in 2020-’21 as the industry consolidates and new dispensary opportunities become more scarce around Colorado. New revenue in social-use businesses and delivery could provide another bump in coming years, however, so the pot trade should be sustainable.

Send questions to [email protected].