Nearly 5 million marijuana-infused edibles and almost 150,000 pounds of cannabis flower were purchased in legal Colorado stores and dispensaries in 2014, according to an encompassing new report the state released on Friday.
The Marijuana Enforcement Division’s first annual report is one of the most important documents to date in Colorado’s marijuana experiment because it’s the first to give complete, state-sanctioned statistics on what marijuana looked like in its first full year of recreational sales.
“The Marijuana Enforcement Division feels that it is imperative to remain transparent on such a highly publicized issue in Colorado,” Lewis Koski, director of the Marijuana Enforcement Division, said in a statement. “It is the goal of MED to ensure that information of this nature is made available so that the public can fully understand the scope and nature of this newly regulated industry.”
There’s lots to learn about “the scope and nature” of marijuana in Colorado. Some numbers that popped out:
Edibles were certainly one of 2014’s biggest stories, and for good reason, as 4,815,650 units were sold in the first year of recreational pot sales — 1,964,917 units on the medical side and 2,850,733 recreationally.
The numbers on marijuana flower sales in 2014 showed a still-robust medical market, which saw 109,578 pounds sold, and a growing recreational market, with 38,660 pounds sold.
It’s also been somewhat elusive to peg down how many recreational shops and medical dispensaries are actually selling marijuana in Colorado, but the report addresses that, too. As of December 2014, the state had issued 833 retail licenses and 1,416 medical licenses.
There were 15,992 people licensed to work in Colorado’s marijuana industry in December 2014 — compared to 6,593 at the beginning of the year.
Of Colorado’s 321 total jurisdictions, 67 allow medical and recreational sales, 21 allow medical-only sales, five allow recreational-only sales and 228 prohibit all pot sales.
This article will continue to be updated.
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