The marijuana industry in Colorado is growing at a neck breaking speed, and there seems to be no end to the growth in sight. As more recreational marijuana stores open, more money will come in. Colorado’s tourism industry is seeing an increase due to people traveling to Colorado for ‘marijuana vacations.’ When you combine recreational marijuana sales projections, medical marijuana sales projections, and especially ancillary products and services, the Colorado marijuana industry is going to be enormous moving forward.
This has led some people to claim that the Colorado marijuana industry will someday be larger than the skiing industry. While some feel that such a claim is far fetched, one has to consider that the ski industry has topped out a long time ago, while the ceiling for the marijuana industry is almost impossible to determine at this point. Any time a projection is made, it is soon surpassed as economic numbers are released. The Colorado marijuana industry might not be bigger than the ski industry today, or tomorrow, but it very well may happen eventually.
Right now the Colorado ski industry is estimated at about 3 billion dollars per year. According to projections by Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper, Colorado’s marijuana industry could top 1 billion in it’s first year. It doesn’t take a mathematician to see that if current trends continue, the marijuana industry will pass the ski industry, and many other industries, by the end of the decade or sooner.
Imagine if every state had a booming marijuana industry like Colorado. Imagine if every state was looking at creating a billion dollar industry from scratch. In areas that were hit hard by the last economic downturn, that could mean the difference between a city rebounding and thriving, or a city facing further crisis.
Every state needs to end marijuana prohibition and embrace the new marijuana economy. It will create much needed jobs in areas that jobs are scarce, it will infuse the local economy with money that is desperately needed to support other local businesses, and the tax revenue that is generated can go to things like schools, roads, and parks, and will free up law enforcement to work on fighting real crime.
Source: International Cannabis Industry Conference
