If you were among those who thought recreational marijuana sales would plateau or perhaps even start to decline by now, you were wrong.
Statistics from the Colorado Department of Revenue reveal that in March, the most recent month for which stats are available, pot businesses sold approximately $42.7 million worth of cannabis to recreational customers.
That's a sizable bump over the $39.1 million in February.
Medical marijuana sales are up, too, with the March total of $31.9 million representing a more than $2 million increase over February figures.
These sales are continuing to generate taxes aplenty for the State of Colorado, as well as for local municipalities.
We've included a document that lists marijuana taxes, licenses, fee transfers and distribution based on March sales. But here are some highlights:
The sales tax transfer to the Marijuana Cash Fund, generated at a 2.9 percent rate, was $2,093,101, up from $1,569,405 in March 2014.
The retail marijuana sales tax, collected at a 10 percent rate, was $4,282,160, more than double the $1,898,685 collected in March 2014.
The retail marijuana excise tax, a 15 percent tax directed toward school construction, was $2,587,352, a four-fold uptick over the $609,907 registered in March 2014.
As for why officials far prefer recreational marijuana to medical marijuana, we present the following graphics, which show how much more than the former rakes in as compared to the latter at every level of government.
Here are the medical marijuana sales tax totals for assorted counties in March 2015....
...and here are the recreational ones, boosted by an additional 10 percent sales tax that adds up to lots more.
These numbers speak volumes — and so do the ones in the following document.
Marijuana Tax, License, And Fees Report: March 2015
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