Recreational Marijuana Continues To Be Big Seller In Nevada

The rush to get recreational marijuana on dispensary shelves in Nevada continued to prove to be a wise financial decision for the state of Nevada in September.

According to figures from the Nevada Department of Taxation, retail marijuana sales in Nevada exceeded $27 million for the month of September, producing $4.72 million in tax revenue for the state, as first reported by Colton Lochhead of the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

The exact total for September was $27.7 million in sales, bringing the amount of reported sales since recreational marijuana was made legal on July 1 to just under $90 million in three months. Dispensaries sold $27 million in July and $33 million in August.

The legalization of recreational marijuana for adult use has been a win all the way around. Dispensaries initially had difficulty supplying the demand from its customers. Just weeks after sales began in July it was widely reported that dispensaries were running low on marijuana, due in part to a legal battle over how marijuana would be distributed from cultivation centers to retail stores. In July, the Nevada Department of Taxation issued emergency regulations to combat the shortage. Sales have continued to exceed expectations. The Review-Journal reported that the $27.7 million sold in September exceeded projections by $5 million.

On the state side, a 10-percent excise tax on retail sales to go with a 15-percent wholesale tax on cultivation has yielded Nevada over $13 million in tax revenue in the first three months. To go with the $4.72 million in September, the state pocketed $3.68 million in July and $4.82 million in August from recreational marijuana sales.

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