Not even the weed industry can survive in Joe Biden’s Build Back Better economy. Colorado reports that the recreational pot industry is in freefall, with sales revenues plummeting by $700 million per year. The industry raked in $2.2 billion the last year that Donald Trump was in office. In 2023, revenue was down to $1.5 billion.
Several factors could be playing into the downfall of the industry. Sales have been hardest hit in Colorado’s southern border counties, where revenues have dropped by 50%. That’s likely because Arizona and New Mexico have also legalized marijuana. People don’t have to drive across the state line to purchase legal weed any longer.
The industry has also had a supply glut since the pandemic. There’s so much excess pot on the market that the price has dropped from $1,700 per pound to just $700.
The revenue woes have also led directly to major job losses in the industry. A wholesaler called Veritas Fine Cannabis used to have 144 employees, but today, they’re down to 21. Native Roots used to grow 32,000 pounds of weed annually but has cut back to 16,000 pounds per year because of market oversaturation.
Tax revenues, which were supposed to be such a boon because of legalizing weed, have also taken a major hit. The revenue that the state took in dropped by 30% over the past two years.
There’s also the fact that the poor and uneducated Americans, who are the most likely to use weed products, no longer have disposable cash to spend on their habit. Lower-income people are largely broke and living off credit cards at this point because of Joe Biden’s runaway inflation on gas, groceries, energy, and rent.
It’s just the latest sign of a broken economy that is barely hanging in there, as the people await the return of Donald Trump to turn things around.