Colorado’s cannabis industry has fallen on hard times. What does the future hold?
The Denver Post
Helen H. Richardson, The Denver Post
The heyday of marijuana sales in Colorado – back in 2020 when recreational and medical sales topped out at a combined $226 million – is a distant memory, as the state’s dispensaries struggle through an economic downturn, with sales plummeting and small businesses foundering.
“The market’s just bad. It’s bad right now,” said 29-year-old Val Tonazzi, who works in cannabis sales. “There’s businesses closing, left and right.”
In March, Colorado’s total medical marijuana sales were about $17 million – around $5 million less than last March. Retail marijuana sales racked up to $122 million, but that’s still a $17 million drop from March 2022.
It’s an improved outlook from February when medical marijuana sales dipped to their lowest point since retail sales began – around $15 million. And sales for both recreational and medical weed totaled to over $139 million, which is the highest it’s climbed to since last October.
But times have changed since the COVID-19 pandemic – now officially over – which gave the cannabis industry a boost as customers stocked up on edibles and joints to enjoy under lockdown.
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