Colorado is Raking in the Green

Legal pot in Colorado is making the state MILLIONS in the first months of sales.

Legal, taxed, marijuana might have been the best thing Colorado has done for itself. Pot shops now outnumber Starbucks locations in the state! Another 200 shops prepping to open by the end of the year. The state is finding tons of money to put to good use. More pot sales figures have been released for the month of April; it was a good month!

Retail sales of marijuana has reached a new 'high' of $22 million dollars! The 15% rise in sales was likely bolstered by the pot holiday, 4/20. The law of the land and holiday aided in a rise in tourism to the state. In other words, not only did pot shops see some cash, so did hotels, restaurants (definitely) as well as any store that sells chips and goldfish.

The sales data shows medical marijuana hugely outselling recreational pot. $32 million in medical Mary-Jay was sold in April.

Okay kids, here's the fun part. Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper (awesome last name) predicts the pot industry to be worth near $1 billion by the end of the year. That means the state should collect around $114 million this year!

The state has already collected over $27 million in pot tax, THIS YEAR! The cash is being spent on school construction thus far.

The Maine Marijuana Project legalized recreational pot in Portland last fall. They are now seeking to expand the law to Lewiston, York and South Portland. Yesterday activists where out collecting signatures in front of polling locations in the communities. 1,000 signatures are needed in Lewiston and South Portland to force a local referendum. 100 are needed to put the matter before the Town Council in York.

The proposal is similar to Portland's ordnance and will be primarily symbolic. It would make it legal for those over 21 to posses up to one ounce of pot, 1.5 ounces less than the Portland ordnance.