Colorado pot sales slow
The Globe and Mail reports in its Monday, Oct. 8, edition that as Canada prepares for legal recreational weed on Oct. 17, Colorado offers a picture of how the market in Canada could unfold. The Globe's Dave Ebner writes that sales information from the state suggest there will be early bumps, followed by a boom, with a plateau several years after legalization. The legal sale of recreational weed in Colorado began in January, 2014. Like the experience in jurisdictions that came after Colorado, such as Washington State, the legal market was slow to get going. However, by the end of the first year in Colorado, recreational weed had surpassed the medical marijuana market in the state, which has operated since the early 2000s. In 2015, sales jumped almost 50 per cent annually and then rose by about a third in 2016. This year, the growth rate is only 2.7 per cent through the first seven months of the year, compared with the same period last year. July, with its record monthly sales, was up 1.6 per cent. Data for August, set to be issued this coming week, are expected to show similarly modest growth. Deloitte LLP forecast the pot market in 2019 in Canada at $7.2-billion, of which legal sales would account for $4.3-billion.
© 2018 Canjex Publishing Ltd.
|
