DENVER, Thursday, October 18, 2018 -- PRESS RELEASE -- The adult-use marijuana industry in Colorado continues to grow, according to data in a trio of regularly issued reports released by the Colorado Department of Revenue (DOR) and its Marijuana Enforcement Division (MED). The reports include MED’s mid-year update, the monthly marijuana sales and tax revenue reports alongside the methodology of Oct. 1 Average Market Rates (AMR), all released in the past 30 days.

“Data collection is one of the hallmarks of the state’s robust regulatory structure for the commercial, regulated marijuana industry,” said Mike Hartman, DOR executive director. “We closely monitor all available data when evaluating licensee compliance and industry trends, and when drafting industry regulations, with the priority always being the protection of public health and safety.”

MED’s mid-year update is one of two reports issued annually by the Division to provide an aggregate overview of marijuana business licensing, plant counts, volume sold to consumers, testing data and investigations. Key findings from this update include:

Adult-use marijuana business licenses continue to be the majority of new licenses issued, at 77 percent of all new licenses in the first half of 2018. Thirty-six percent of all new business licenses were adult-use cultivations during that same time period.

Denver, Pueblo, El Paso and Boulder counties cultivated 80 percent of all plants grown statewide in June 2018.

Flower sales remain relatively consistent while edibles and concentrates continue to grow (increased by 13.8 percent and 94.6 percent respectively).

Additionally, the marijuana tax revenue and sales reports also show growth, with sales so far this year exceeding $1 billion and revenue topping $200 million. Marijuana sales in August saw a 2.6 percent increase in a year-over-year comparison from last year or $25.9 million increase from 2017. On the revenue side, there was a 10.3 percent increase from last year or $18.7 million increase from 2017.

In a continuing trend, the average price per pound of bud and trim fell from the previous quarterly update, specifically to $759 per pound for the bud rate (from $846) and $325 per pound for the trim rate (from $404) as did the trim allocated for extraction rate. The bud allocated for extraction rate and seed rate remained relatively steady, while immature plant rate increased. Increased supply of marijuana, marijuana product and marijuana concentrate is believed to be one factor driving down the price of the bud and trim rates.

AMR is defined as the average price of all unprocessed retail marijuana that is sold or transferred from retail marijuana cultivation facilities to retail marijuana product manufacturing facilities or retail marijuana stores. The October 1 AMR was calculated based on retail marijuana transactions recorded from May 1, 2018 through July 31, 2018 in DOR’s Marijuana Enforcement Division (MED)’s marijuana inventory tracking system.

For MED’s 2018 mid-year report, visit here: https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/enforcement/med-updates

For monthly marijuana sales reports, visit here: https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/revenue/colorado-marijuana-sales-reports

For monthly marijuana tax revenue reports, visit here: https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/revenue/colorado-marijuana-tax-data

For the latest AMR, including the methodology, visit here: https://www.colorado.gov/pacific/tax/marijuana-taxes-file

