Colorado’s burgeoning legal marijuana industry has quickly made gains on the state’s largest industries — including the mighty oil-and-gas sector — and contributed an economic impact of $2.39 billion in 2015, according to research released Tuesday.

The cannabis industry, the fastest-growing business sector in the state, also is credited with funding 18,005 direct and ancillary full-time jobs in 2015, according to the report from the Marijuana Policy Group, a Denver-based economic and market research firm that consults with businesses and governments on marijuana policy.

MPG, which was founded by researchers from BBC Research & Consulting and the University of Colorado but is unaffiliated with those entities, developed a “marijuana impact model” to show how legalization affects the state economy in the areas of output, tax revenue, GDP and employment.

MPG self-funded the report.

“By legalizing, the state has gained a windfall more or less for free,” said Miles Light, one of the report’s authors.

Read the full story at thecannabist.co.