Nevada: over $27 million in cannabis sales in first month

The first month of legal recreational cannabis sales in Nevada significantly outpaced sales in other states as they opened their legal adult-use cannabis markets.

Nevada's Treasury announced that the state's dispensaries had sold $27.1 million worth of cannabis in July. By comparison, Oregon and Colorado had sold 14 million $ each, and Washington State 3.8 million $ in the first month of legal recreational sales.

Of these 27 million $, the State of Nevada collected $3.68 million, from a 15% tax on wholesale sales and a 10TP3T tax on retail sales. The Nevada Treasury forecasts that legal cannabis sales should bring in 120 million $ in tax over the next two years.

Some of these taxes will go towards drought relief programs, but the vast majority will be dedicated to schools.

Nevada voted to legalize cannabis last November. Sales should have begun on January 1, 2018, but Governor Brian Sandoval had proposed an «early start.» in July of this yeare, the first month of the state's fiscal year.

«This allowed us to earn the first revenues at the beginning of our fiscal year,» explains Stephanie Klapstein, Treasury representative. «We expect these numbers to continue to grow.

The state of Nevada now has 53 cannabis stores, 92 cultivation sites, 65 manufacturers, 9 testing labs and 31 distributors. Of the 250 licenses distributed, 4/5ths are in Las Vegas or Clark County.