Pubdate: Thu, 12 Nov 2015
Source: Denver Post (CO)
Copyright: 2015 The Denver Post Corp
Contact:  http://www.denverpost.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/122
Author: Ricardo Baca

SALES SLUMP IN SEPT.

The State Shows a Dip for Recreational and Medical Pot Shops.

Monthly recreational cannabis sales in Colorado topped $50 million 
for the fourth consecutive month in September

Published: Nov 11, 2015, 2:35 pm Comments (3)

By Ricardo Baca, The Cannabist Staff

After four consecutive months of growth, medical and recreational 
cannabis sales in Colorado saw a downturn in September, according to 
new data released by the state's Department of Revenue this week.

But is the dip in monthly marijuana sales the result of fewer 
purchases during an off-season month, or was the system thrown out of 
whack because of the Sept. 16 pot tax holiday that alleviated some of 
the sales and excise taxes normally tacked onto cannabis purchases in 
the state?

It was likely a little bit of both, says State Sen. Pat Steadman, D-Denver.

"Sales volumes do increase a lot in the summer months, so some of 
what you could be seeing is back to school, people getting on with 
their lives and finally leaving the summer break behind," said 
Steadman. "And some of that could also be the divot from the sales 
tax holiday."

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has hauled in with recreational and medical sales and business fees

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here. Watch The Cannabist Show.

Revenues from recreational pot sales dropped to $56.4 million, while 
medical sales dipped to $38.2 million in September - a decline of 
around $3 million each from their record-setting August sales, when 
they totalled more than $100 million for the first time.

September was the fourth consecutive month that recreational cannabis 
sales in Colorado topped $50 million.

The state anticipated losing $3.6 million in revenue during the 
one-day pot tax holiday. Customers found some deals at pot shops on 
Sept. 16, but the businesses themselves came out the big winners. 
Many marijuana outfits stockpiled plant products in their 
cultivations and transferred them to stores on Sept. 16, allowing 
them to skip out on the 15 percent excise tax normally charged on 
those transfers.

The Joint Budget Committee was invited to tour the cannabis 
cultivation at Denver shop L'Eagle right after the pot tax holiday, 
Steadman said.

L'Eagle owner "John Andrle told us that his business alone had saved 
$50,000 on that day," said Steadman, "just because he'd been holding 
inventory back in the grow."

Nearly $700 million of medical and recreational marijuana was sold in 
Colorado in 2014. In only nine months of recorded data, the 2015 
numbers have already passed last year's mark, with more than $730 
million of cannabis sold in the state.

There are three types of state taxes on recreational marijuana: the 
standard 2.9 percent sales tax; a 10 percent special marijuana sales 
tax; and a 15 percent excise tax on wholesale marijuana transfers. 
For September, Colorado collected $9.7 million in recreational taxes 
and fees and almost $2 million in medical taxes and fees, bringing 
the 2015 cumulative revenue total to more than $98.3 million.

Perhaps the most-watched figure in the state's marijuana tax data is 
the 15 percent excise tax, which is earmarked in Colorado for school 
construction projects. In September that tax brought in $2.8 million, 
down from $3.3 million in August. In the first nine months of 2015, 
those school-bound tax revenues topped $25.7 million; in all of 2014, 
that tax brought in $13.3 million.
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MAP posted-by: Jay Bergstrom