For over a year, Colorado has been generating taxes from marijuana since they first legalized pot. As per The Free Though Project, the Colorado government was able to generate more tax revenue from Pot rather than alcohol in the past year. It only goes to show that pot market may be potentially bigger than the market of alcohol.
As per the Colorado Department of Revenue, the Colorado government was able to collect over $70 million in marijuana sales, while they were only able to collect about $42 million from alcohol over the course of a year.
A recent study was published on Cannabis consumption among teens and college students. It was stated that teenagers and college students would prefer to use cannabis, as marijuana usage continually increase, while alcohol and tobacco on the other hand continually decline. They then added that the rate of cannabis consumption was able to surpass the rate of cigarette use.
Another point was taken when they added that cigarettes and alcohol took thousands of lives each year while marijuana reminds at zero death rate.
As per High Times, the director of communications for the Marijuana Policy Project, Mason Tvert, made a statement in regards to marijuana tax revenue stating:
"Marijuana taxes have been incredibly productive over the past year, so this tax holiday is a much-deserved day off, this will be the one day out of the year when the state won't generate significant revenue. Over the other 364 days, it will bring in tens of millions of dollars that will be reinvested in our state."
He then added:
"It's crazy how much revenue our state used to flush down the drain by forcing marijuana sales into the underground market, it's even crazier that so many states are still doing it. Tax revenue is just one of many good reasons to replace marijuana prohibition with a system of regulation."
