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Colo. notches highest month yet for marijuana taxes

Jonny Radding, co-owner of Durango Organics, opens the door for the first retail sales of marijuana in the city of Durango in October. Recreational marijuana sales are soaring in Colorado, with January being the best month yet for sales-tax revenue.

January was Colorado’s best month yet for recreational marijuana sales.

La Plata County generated $25,691 in medical marijuana sales tax in January, and $11,858 in retail marijuana’s base sales tax. The state data shows medical marijuana sales are more than double that of retail sales locally.

Retail marijuana brought in more sales-tax revenue overall with the additional 10 percent sales tax on retail pot generating $66,243.

Durango Organics was the first retail pot store to open locally, in October.

“Since we’ve opened beginning of October, each month has consistently gotten a little bit stronger,” co-owner Jonny Radding said.

February continued that trend, with stronger sales than January, he said.

Retail stores continue to proliferate in the Durango area.

Colorado Grow Co., opened Jan. 15 at 965½ Main Ave. Co-owners Adam Gifford and Jason Barker closed their medical dispensary to open the retail shop.

“By moving over to recreational, we’re now dealing with a different market, which we feel is a lot more successful than the medical,” Barker said.

The shop has been open fewer than two months, so it may be premature to spot any sales trends. Still, business has been good, Barker said.

“Snowdown definitely was a huge success,” he said.

Colorado Grow Co. has been seeing plenty of Texans in town during their spring break and New Mexicans.

Rocky Mountain High recently opened a retail store at 120 E. 36th St. despite neighborhood opposition.

And Durango Organics opened a retail store in Cortez to capitalize on demand in Montezuma County.

Barker said it’s unlikely Durango’s market for marijuana could get oversupplied. Zoning regulations make that difficult, he said.

“It’s tough for Durango to get too saturated,” he said.

Most striking in the January numbers reported this week by the Colorado Department of Revenue is a spike in the tax stream designated specifically for schools. That excise tax brought in $2.3 million. That’s more than 10 times the haul from January 2014, when Colorado started collecting the tax.

Colorado’s marijuana industry was given a tax-free period when recreational sales began to transfer their pot plants from the medical industry to the recreational industry. As a result, excise taxes for the first few months were quite low.

The excise taxes are designated specifically for school construction. The rest of the taxes have been spent on things such as police training and drug education.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.



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