Pubdate: Thu, 12 Aug 2010 Source: Gazette, The (Colorado Springs, CO) Copyright: 2010 The Gazette Contact: http://www.gazette.com/sections/opinion/submitletter/ Website: http://www.gazette.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/165 Author: Daniel Chacon JUNE POT SALES NET CITY $51,500 Medical marijuana has Colorado Springs seeing green. The June sales of the green leafy substance and marijuana-infused products like brownies generated nearly $51,500 in sales tax revenue. It's a record high -- and a 21 percent increase from the month before. Still, it's a miniscule bit of the $10.5 million the city collected for all June sales. Since January 2009, the city has pocketed nearly $327,500 in sales tax revenue from the sale of medical marijuana and marijuana-laced products. Last year, the city collected $111,000. So far this year, the city has collected nearly twice that amount. "I never thought that watching our local economy go up in smoke would be a good thing, but now I need to reconsider," mayoral candidate Buddy Gilmore said jokingly on Facebook. The jump in sales tax revenue may be tied to a June 30 deadline for medical marijuana businesses to register with the city. Businesses had to certify "the timely remittance of sales tax." But officials aren't ready to say whether that contributed to the 21 percent increase. "We need some time to confirm that it was because of the June 30th deadline," Candice Bridgers, the city's revenue and collections manager, said Thursday in an e-mail. "We had a number of prior period filings, and we want to check and see if they were from existing or new customers," she said. - --- MAP posted-by: Jo-D