With dispensaries pulling in just $1.28 billion through November 2024, the Colorado cannabis market is on track to miss a key benchmark for the first time in seven years.
Unless December sales topped $200 million – an unlikely scenario based on December’s $19.1 million tax haul – 2024 will mark the first time since 2016 that annual marijuana sales failed to reach $1.5 billion, according to Westword.
The downturn has accelerated industry consolidation, particularly in Denver, where established operators including have closed or divested nearly two dozen metro locations in 2024, Westword reported.
Market conditions appear to be stabilizing at lower levels, but current sales remain 25% below pre-pandemic figures from 2019, Green Market Report has previously written.
Wholesale prices hit $658 per pound in January 2024, their second-lowest level since recreational sales began in 2014, according to Colorado Department of Revenue data. That’s after a recent state legislative report found the number of licensed cultivators fell 17% in the past year as oversupply drove prices down 63% since January 2021.
The medical marijuana sector has seen an even steeper decline, with November sales of $11.9 million representing a 66% drop from July 2021’s $35 million peak. Recreational cannabis now makes up 89% of all sales, with November recreational revenue at $97.4 million, the worst performance for the state’s cannabis market since February 2017, when sales totaled just $106.7 million, according to DOR statistics.
Since launching recreational sales in 2014, Colorado’s cannabis industry has generated $16.7 billion in total revenue through November 2024, with 2024 sales reaching $1.28 billion through the first eleven months, though expect continued pressure as more states legalize and local prices remain depressed.
For example, nearby nascent Missouri and its own billion-dollar market has effectively courted Missourians and Kansans who would’ve otherwise visited Colorado for general legal access or supply for illicit trade.
One of America’s oldest legal marijuana markets hasn’t seen numbers this low since recreational sales there began. Read More
