Image via

In the first three months of , Colorados legal cannabis industry sold over half a billion dollars worth of pot, according to a new report by the state Department of Revenue’s Marijuana Enforcement Division. 

Between January and March , legal cannabis retailers made $5. million in sales, a 8 percent increase over the $8.8 million of weed sold during the same quarter last year. The states adult-use market accounted for $5 million of these total sales, up 9 percent from the first quarter of . The medical marijuana market is also going strong, though, moving $8. of product, 5 percent more than last year.

Colorados legal pot shops have also been breaking new monthly sales records this year. Combined adult-use and medical pot sales hit $8. million in January, up from $9. million last January, and this Februarys sales reached $ million. March was another record-breaking month, with $. million in sales reported, compared to $ million last March.

Cannabis sales have been growing steadily every single year since the Boulder State began selling legal weed in January . Pot shops sold nearly $8 million worth of weed that year, and annual sales first broke the billion-dollar mark in . Last year, the state made a record $. billion in weed sales, and this years sales show that demand for legal weed is staying strong. 

In the past seven years and three months, Colorado has sold a truly eye-watering $.5 billion worth of weed.

These record sales have brought the state an estimated $. billion in tax revenue. The state levies three different taxes on legal weed – a 5 percent excise tax, a 5 percent retail tax, and a .9 percent sales tax on sales made in stores. Seventy-one percent of this revenue is funneled to the state marijuana tax cash fund, which distributes this cash to health care, education, substance abuse programs, and law enforcement. The state public school fund receives percent of total weed taxes, and the remaining 5 percent goes to the state general fund.

was definitely a banner year for Colorados legal cannabis market, but it was also an amazing year for the US weed industry at large. People flocked to legal pot shops during the pandemic, buying up massive amounts of weed to help them deal with the stress, anxiety, and boredom brought on by the lockdown. As a result, most states reported their highest-ever sales, and the US weed industry as a whole made nearly $8 billion in sales, up percent from 9.

Now that more people are getting vaccinated and returning to work, some cannabis analysts have wondered if weed sales might slip back to 9 levels. The new data from Colorado suggests that the demand for legal cannabis is not about to let up anytime soon, though.