‘We need a full-fledged national legalization program,’ dispensary manager says Karissa Ollenberger, a budtender with Rocky Mountain High, fills a jar with marijuana buds on Friday at its location on north Main Avenue in Durango. Colorado marijuana sales have declined since 2021. (Jerry McBride/Durango Herald) Colorado’s cannabis industry is evolving with the legalization of marijuana in neighboring states and the adoption of CBD in other states where the drug is not legal.
Giants in the cannabis industry – as well as other large companies – are scooping up smaller retailers, finding ways to operate with fewer employees and tightening their belts to address declining sales, said some Durango-area dispensary managers.
But some industry workers say the decline in sales may be leveling out after spiking during the COVID-19 pandemic, when many people stayed home social distancing.
Declining sales taxes a sign of industry struggles
Declining sales are reflected in year-over-year state and local sales tax revenues. State marijuana sales tax revenues peaked in 2021 at nearly $423.5 million collected over the calendar year, Colorado Department of Revenue data show.
In the years following, the revenue stream fell 23% to $325 million in 2022, then almost 16% to $274 million in 2023 and another 7% to $255 million last year.
Marijuana sales tax revenues in the city of Durango also peaked in 2021 at $659,295 and have since declined to $349,239 in 2024.
The state distributes the majority of its marijuana tax revenues to its Marijuana Tax Cash Fund (for health care and health education, substance abuse prevention and treatment, and law enforcement programs); and the remainder of revenues to local governments; a state public school fund; and the state general fund. The city of Durango, on the other hand, doesn’t allocate marijuana tax revenues for specific uses. Declining sales are reflected in year-over-year state and local sales tax revenues. Colorado marijuana sales tax revenues peaked in 2021 at nearly $423.5 million; marijuana sales tax revenues in the city of Durango also peaked in 2021 at $659,295. (Jerry McBride/Durango Herald) All city marijuana tax revenues are received into the city’s general fund, which funds police, parks and […]
Fallbrook couple had their children help them harvest magic mushrooms: DA
A baggie containing so-called magic mushrooms The U.S. Attorney’s Office,
