Colorado’s cannabis market continued its substantial decline in the closing months of 2023, seeing cannabis sales fall to their lowest level since February 2015 in November.
According to the latest figures from the state’s Department of Revenue, recreational and medical cannabis sales hit $110.3m in November, marking the fourth consecutive month of decline.
A substantial decrease in the number of growers and manufacturers saw adult-use sales, constituting approximately 87% of total sales, decrease around 16% year-on-year to $95.8m, while medical cannabis sales fell 11.5% to $14.5m.
Cannabis taxes and fees paid to the state in December 2023 amounted to $19.1 million, contributing to a total of $274 million in taxes and fees collected throughout the year.
This represents a substantial decline from the $325 million collected in 2022 and $423 million in 2021, signalling a notable downturn in Colorado’s cannabis market since the conclusion of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Although total cannabis sales in Colorado for 2023 hit $1.4bn in the year to November, projections suggest that the year-end total may fall short of the state’s $1.7bn sales in 2022.
This is noteworthy, given that 2022 was considered a disappointment in the nation’s oldest adult-use market, with annual sales over 20% lower than the record total of $2.2bn in 2021. Projections for Colorado’s 2023 marijuana sales indicate a potential decrease of nearly 13% from 2022, reaching around $1.5 billion
