Since legalizing marijuana in 2014, Colorado’s pot industry has surpassed $1 billion in tax revenue for the state. Colorado was the first state to legalize marijuana recreationally and since then has been the Mecca for legal pot across the country. Colorado Governor Jared Polis announced the news via Twitter on Wednesday.
“The cannabis industry in Colorado is thriving,” Governor Polis wrote on the social media site. “We want Colorado to be the best state for investment, innovation and development for this growing economic sector.”
According to the data provided by the Governor “the Centennial State” earned $1.01 billion in sales taxes, business licensing fees and excise taxes from January 2014 to May 2019. The Governor touted the state’s success by providing information on what the tax money is going toward.
“This industry is helping grow our economy by creating jobs and generating valuable revenue that is going towards preventing youth consumption, protecting public health and safety and investing in public school construction,” Polis is quoted saying in the report.
5 years, one billion dollarshttps://t.co/gc8y6dgtQ2
— Jared Polis (@jaredpolis) June 12, 2019
In many ways, Colorado has been the experimental state in regard to legalizing marijuana recreationally. Seeing the success they had from day one, other states have pushed for recreational pot with California, Vermont, and Washington is some of the states who fully legalized the still federally outlawed drug.
Colorado currently has more than 2,900 licensed marijuana businesses.
