Colorado collects $44 million tax in first year of legal cannabis
Colorado, the first US state to legalise cannabis for recreational use, raises substantial taxes in first year - but less than the $70 million originally predicted
Colorado, the first US state to legalise cannabis for recreational use, made $44 million (£29 million) in taxes from the first year of sales of the drug.
The total was below the $70 million (£46 million) estimated at the start of the experiment in which cannabis is sold to anyone over the age of 21 in state-licensed shops.
Fees levied on the cannabis industry and taxes on medical sales of the dug brought the total collected to $76 million.
Pat Steadman, a Democrat state senator, said: "Everyone who thinks Colorado’s rolling in the dough because of marijuana? That’s not true."
In Washington state sales to recreational users began in July and the state had collected $16.4 million in taxes by the end of 2014.
The levels of tax revenue in both states are being closely watched by other US states where legalisation is being considered.
According to the ArcView Group, a San Francisco-based financial network specialising in cannabis investment, the industry including medical sales was worth $2.6 billion in 2014. It predicts that could rise to $10.2 billion by 2018.
Jeffrey Miron, a Harvard University economist, said: “Being able to claim some non-trivial tax revenue is important to the legalisation movement,."
5:44PM GMT 11 Feb 2015
