Colorado tax records for July show that recreational dispensaries in the state pulled in $28,921,068 in July, while medical sales only generated $28,313,034 — roughly a $608,000 difference and the first time that rec sales have outpaced medical.
So how much is that in weed? At around $400 an ounce at a number of recreational retail stores, it comes out to about 93 pounds.
From all of that, the state collected $838,711 in medical sales tax and $5.19 million in recreational taxes during July — including about $1.4 million in excise taxes earmarked for public school construction. As of the end of July, the state had collected more than $18.6 million in recreational pot sales taxes, as well as about $5.4 million in excise taxes.
Business group lobbyists (the ones with high prices) cheered the totals to the Associated Press, saying that more and more dispensaries will convert to recreational to reap the rewards. Currently, the state has about 200 recreational shops and more than twice as many medical shops.
Prices on recreational herb at some dispensaries are twice as high as those for the exact same flower sold medically (and customers face 20 percent taxes or more when you tack on the sales taxes and special taxes at the city level).
Also, July was one of busiest tourism months of the year in the Centennial State — and it may wind up being the single largest. Last year, more than 2.1 million people came here to hang out for at least one July. A huge chunk of those tourists were probably getting stoned last year, too. They just weren’t paying the state to do it.
