Nearly $600 million in Legal Marijuana Sold in Denver Last Year, $44 Million in Taxes Garnered

Nearly $600 million in Legal Marijuana Sold in Denver Last Year, $44 Million in Taxes Garnered

There was almost $600 million in marijuana and marijuana products sold in Denver in 2017, resulting in tens of million of dollars in taxes for the city.

According to a new report titled The Denver Collaborative Approach: Leading The Way In Municipal Marijuana Management 2018. there was roughly $587 million in legal marijuana sold throughout Denver in 2017, a 29% increase from the year prior. $377 million of this came from recreational marijuana sales, with the remaining $210 million from the legal distribution of medical marijuana

These sales resulted in around $44 million in taxes. This marks a 20% increase from the marijuana tax revenue the city garnered in 2016.

“This new report demonstrates Denver’s coordinated approach between multiple agencies to manage marijuana is working,” said Denver’s Mayor Michael B. Hancock in a press release sent out earlier today. “We took on the daunting challenge of becoming the first major city in America to manage legalized recreational marijuana and we are having success. That’s because of coordination between Denver’s Excise and Licenses, Denver’s Fire Department, Police Department, Department of Public Health and Environment, Community Planning and Development, as well as our partners in other city agencies, the community from the marijuana industry and public health advocates.”

In Denver, marijuana has been legal since 2013, with the first legal sales taking place in January of the following year.

Denver is the most populated city in Colorado with around 690,000 residents.