New studies shine light on cannabis consumers’ spending habits

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America’s legal marijuana market topped $6.5 billion in 2016 and is projected to grow to $24 billion by 2025, yet data-driven insights into consumers have remained elusive.

Two new studies are shining a light on the cannabis consumer, providing insight into actual purchase behavior as the industry prepares for four new state recreational markets, including California, and six new medical markets expected to come online in the next eight months.

As the legal recreational and medical cannabis…

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Wanted: cannabis tracking system for billion dollar market

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DENVER — Washington state regulators have begun accepting bids for a new seed-to-sale tracking system to keep tabs on marijuana commerce, a deal with an initial value of about $3 million.

The competition likely will be fierce, given that the contract involves one of the nation’s largest cannabis markets.

But businesses won’t be squaring off against the provider of the state’s current seed-to-sale system, BioTrackTHC. The company said it has no plans to bid for the new contract, saying it is…

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Erie should keep ban on retail marijuana sales, committee says

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Erie should uphold a year-and-a-half-long ban on recreational marijuana sales, according to a recently unveiled report by the Retail Marijuana Ad-Hoc Committee, a task force created by the town last year to examine if such an option would be viable.

The committee on Tuesday night cited a number of factors that could be set in motion if such an embargo were lifted, including a net revenue drain on the town; limited demand as surrounding towns eat away at potential profits; limited allowable…

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Colorado cannabis sales top $126M in February 2017 amid federal uncertainty

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In a month when the phrase “greater enforcement” was uttered by the Trump administration in relation to marijuana, Colorado’s cannabis sales continued their surge.

In February, licensed shops brought in nearly $126.1 million in sales, with more than $86.4 million in recreational revenue and $39.6 million in medical marijuana revenue. It’s the third-highest monthly sales total in Colorado’s recreational marijuana era, according to The Cannabist’s calculations of Colorado Department of Revenue…

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Colorado marijuana sales holding steady with $109 million in January 2017

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By Alicia Wallace, The Cannabist Staff

Colorado marijuana shops kicked off 2017 by selling nearly $109 million in recreational and medical cannabis in January, marking a 23 percent increase from January 2016, the latest revenue data show.

The Cannabist’s calculations of state tax revenue data that dropped Thursday afternoon show that recreational marijuana sales in January 2017 totaled $77.9 million — up $21.4 million year-over-year — while the month’s medical marijuana sales were…

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Longmont to consider partial repeal of medical, recreational pot sales ban

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Later this year, Longmont’s city staff is expected to present the City Council with a report about its options if it wants to partially repeal the city’s ban on shops selling medical and recreational marijuana inside the city limits.

At least some council members indicated during meetings last year that they’d be willing to consider revising or ending Longmont’s prohibitions against pot shops.

The issue resurfaced on Tuesday night, when Mayor Dennis Coombs floated a motion to have…

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Colorado sold $1.3 billion worth of marijuana in 2016

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It’s a billion-dollar business — and then some.

In 2016, Colorado’s dispensaries bagged $1.3 billion in recreational and medical cannabis sales, based on Colorado Department of Revenue tax data released Thursday.

To put the state’s third year of regulated recreational marijuana sales in perspective, Year One totaled $699.2 million (combined with medical sales) and Year Two jumped up to $996.2 million. The trend should continue in Year Four, but beyond that? It’s a murkier…

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North Americans Spend Almost as Much on Weed as They Do on Wine

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Move over, Napa Valley, there’s a new kid on the block. When it comes to spending on mind-altering substances, Americans and Canadians are shelling out just about as much for marijuana as they do for wine.

In its executive summary of a yet-to-be-released report, Arcview Marijuana Research pegs the size of the North American marijuana market — legal and illegal — at $53.3 billion, which puts it roughly even with the market in wine. According to Statista, US retail wines sales sit at $55.8 billion, and Canadian government figures put…

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Fake bongs hit world of high-end glass pipes

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By Terry Spencer, The Associated Press

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. — In the rarefied world of high-end bong makers, Roor glass water pipes have long been smoked to impress. The status symbols are so sought after that some models command prices of $1,000. There’s even a diamond-studded, gold-gilded Roor that goes for nearly $4,000.

Both marijuana and the tools used to smoke it remain illegal under federal law, but that hasn’t stopped Roor and its American licensee from using the federal…

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Report: Consumers Spend $53 Billion On Marijuana In 2016

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NORML | January 19, 2017

OAKLAND, CA — Cannabis consumers spent over $53 billion on marijuana-related purchases in 2016, according to a report released this week by Arcview Market Research. The total includes sales of cannabis in both legal and illegal markets.

In jurisdictions where marijuana is legally regulated, sales totaled an estimated $6.9 billion in 2016 – a 34 percent increase over 2015 totals. Authors estimate that legal sales will total nearly $22 billion nationwide by the year…

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Falling prices mean trouble for states that have legalized marijuana

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The arrival of 2017 will bring many changes to the country, including falling marijuana prices in states that have legalized a recreational market. Cannabis users may cheer this news, but it heralds the start of an enduring budgetary headache for states that tax legal marijuana sales based solely on price.

New data from one legalization state illustrate the point. Colorado’s Department of Revenue assesses the going price for marijuana every six months and uses this information to calculate…

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Colorado: Marijuana Sales Surpass $1 Billion in 2016

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NORML | January 12, 2017

DENVER, CO — Retail sales of marijuana in Colorado totaled well over $1 billion in the first ten months of 2016 and are estimated to reach $1.3 billion by year’s end, according to data provided by the state’s Department of Revenue.

The sales totals are an increase over last year, when retailers sold $996,184,788 in marijuana-related products.

Cannabis sales in 2016 have yielded an estimated $151 million in tax revenue to date, $40 million of which will be directed…

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Colorado marijuana sales top $106 million in November

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Colorado marijuana shops tallied just over $106 million in sales this past November, putting the industry’s 2016 sales totals just shy of $1.2 billion — with returns from the typically bountiful month of December still to come.

Sales of marijuana and related products translated to $17.7 million in monthly taxes and fees to go toward school construction, drug prevention and other health programs, bringing the year-to-date revenue total for the 2016 calendar to $180.4 million,…

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Chart: Healthy markups for marijuana strains with celebrity names

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By Eli McVey

Celebrity-branded marijuana strains are commanding a premium in recreational markets by capitalizing on name recognition and sophisticated branding.

The average markup of a celebrity-branded strain versus its unbranded counterpart is approximately 24%, which often equates to $5-$10 more per eighth, according to an analysis by Marijuana Business Daily.

The findings highlight the long-term potential of such offerings and the power of using a well-known name to sell cannabis to recreational users, who often consider different…

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Marijuana industry keeps a wary eye on how Trump will respond to pot legalization

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With the news of Donald Trump’s presidency settling in across Colorado and the nation, some marijuana advocacy groups and industry insiders are feeling anxious about recreational and medical pot under the uncertainty of what a Trump administration — and Republican Congress — will mean for their business.

Trump has said he favors states’ rights and indicated he would not dismantle existing marijuana regulations, but some of his past statements and political allies have raised…

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Colorado pot shops sold a record-breaking amount of marijuana in August 2016

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The summer of 2016 turned out to be quite lucrative for Colorado’s marijuana industry.

Legal marijuana shops tallied up $126 million in medical and recreational cannabis sales in August, setting a new monthly record, according to Colorado Department of Revenue data made public Wednesday. The young industry’s previous monthly high was set just a month before, with $122.67 million of revenue in July.

At that time, economist Adam Orens, with BBC Research and the Marijuana Policy Group,…

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Find a marijuana store near you – dispensaries map

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The Cannabist covers national marijuana news and culture. Stay updated on politics and business issues; get resource info about health, laws, cultivation, cooking with cannabis and more; product and strain reviews; and interviews with industry insiders on The Cannabist Show and podcast.

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Marijuana edibles will look different in Colorado starting Oct. 1, among many new state rules

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Beginning Saturday, medical and recreational marijuana edibles and other cannabis products sold in Colorado will be stamped with a new “universal symbol” aimed at raising public safety awareness.

The universal symbol — a diamond enclosing the notations “! THC” or “! THC M” — is part of a bundle of new state marijuana regulations going into effect on Oct. 1. In addition to new equivalency regulations for retail marijuana, other rules effective Saturday include the barring…

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Boulder County: More marijuana, lower prices

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The price of pot is going down, way down, as more people launch large-scale industrial grow operations to supply the state’s dispensaries and makers of weed-infused goodies.

The precipitous declines of the past several months are likely to continue, say experts, resulting in massive changes to the nascent industry as more operations rethink the structure of their businesses to take advantage of the cheap cannabis crop.

The cost for a pound of pot has been sliced nearly in half over the…

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Thornton says yes to marijuana sales in face of vocal opposition

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THORNTON — The state’s largest city with an all-out ban on marijuana sales decided Tuesday to allow the nascent industry, but not before hearing an earful from members of the community.

The Thornton City Council voted 5-4 to allow retail marijuana shops — capped at a total of four citywide — to open in this northern suburb of 135,000. The city, the sixth-largest in Colorado, will start accepting applications from would-be dispensary owners Sept. 1.

But plenty of people in…

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Fearing legal pot might not live up to the hype, Uruguay now looking at hemp

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For all the buzz it’s generating, legalized pot may not live up to the hype. At least not in Uruguay where limits on production and pricing have led one of two producers to diversify into less regulated hemp.

Weeks before selling its first ounce of pot at pharmacies, International Cannabis Corp. is already betting that hemp — a variety of cannabis — will be a much bigger market than selling the psychoactive part of the plant, according to CEO Guillermo Delmonte. Hemp and its…

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Chart of the Week: Monthly Marijuana Sales in Washington State Surpass $60 Million

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chart on washington marijuana sales

By Eli McVey

The merger of Washington State’s unregulated medical marijuana industry into its recreational cannabis program has led to a huge spike in monthly sales for licensed retailers, indicating that the complicated transition is playing out as hoped.

In July, cannabis retailers posted an 18% spike in sales from the previous month, a new record for the regulated market. The $63.6 million in sales marked an increase of more than $10 million over the total in June.

The sizable gain comes on the heels of a July 1 deadline for all remaining…

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