Newsweed / Cannabis news / Cannabis in the U.S. / Cannabis in California

California: 4 billion in cannabis sales for 2018?

Published

8 years ago

6 April 2018

When the California legalized cannabis last January, the question wasn't so much whether Californians would legally buy their cannabis, but for how much. And only 3 months after legalizing, some are starting to get an idea.

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The state will officially announce the first figures next May, but according to the San Diego Union Tribune, Sales for the first quarter of 2018 could exceed one billion dollars. At the same pace, that would be more than 4 billion for 2018.

To compare, the states of Colorado and Washington, much smaller than California, both surpassed one billion in sales last year. The Colorado reached $1.5 billion, up 15% from 2016 and 30% between 2015 and 2016.

In California, the legal market is not yet fully deployed, and many adjustments are still to come. High sales taxes have indeed short-circuited some sales, which have remained on the gray market. Local governments could therefore lower certain taxes to encourage the emergence of the legal market.

According to a report released yesterday, the Total cannabis sales could exceed $75 billion by 2030, a figure comparable to soda sales in 2017. California is expected to contribute a large part of this total.

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Aurélien BERNARD

Aurélien founded Newsweed in 2015. Particularly interested in international regulations and the various cannabis markets, he also has an extensive knowledge of the plant and its uses.