Colorado’s recreational marijuana sales set a new monthly high in March.
The state’s cannabis retailers sold $106 million in flower, edibles and concentrate for adult-use purposes during March, according to data released Wednesday by the Colorado Department of Revenue.
In total, the shops tallied up $135.2 million in sales during the month, up 3.7 percent from March 2017. The monthly haul — consisting of $29.2 million of medical marijuana sales and roughly $106 million in recreational sales — brings the first-quarter totals to $365.7 million, an increase of 6 percent from the first three months of 2017.
The latest data epitomize some ongoing sales trends in Colorado’s maturing marijuana industry: Recreational sales continue to take bigger pieces of the pie, and the industry is still growing — but no longer by leaps-and-bounds.
Economists and analysts have projected that Colorado marijuana sales should continue to grow, but at far slower rates than the double-digit increase of legalization’s early days. Sales could grow if additional municipalities opt to allow legal cannabis programs; but expectations are that they’ll eventually plateau and the cannabis industry will behave much like established consumer-driven sectors.
Through March, Colorado has collected upward of $64 million in taxes and fees from marijuana sales, according to calculations of state revenue data made available Wednesday.
