Washington Marijuana Outsells Liquor

Marijuana sales passed a quiet milestone in Washington state in the first three months of 2016.

For the first time, residents and visitors as a whole spent more on Washington marijuana than on hard alcohol, based on an analysis of purchase and tax records from two state agencies.

In the first quarter of 2016, people spent $19.1 million more on marijuana than spirits, which includes the cost of the products and its associated taxes. By the second quarter, that gap increased to $52.3 million. Those amounts include taxes levied by the state on those products. Spirits sales do not include wine and beer. Washington marijuana sales include all cannabis products but not paraphernalia.

In July, the state shuttered medical marijuana shops, making all sales go through licensed recreational marijuana storefronts. Sales at retail pot shops shot up by almost $100 million in the third quarter of the year, to $398.2 million.

Third-quarter figures for spirits, including sales directly to customers and to bars and restaurants, won’t be released until early next year.

Industry leaders say the retail cannabis industry only has room to grow in Washington state.

Tacoma opened up its market earlier this year when the City Council changed code to allow up to 16 storefronts within the city limits, while closing all medical shops.

Vicki Christophersen, a lobbyist for the Washington marijuana industry who heads the Washington CannaBusiness Association, said the increasing revenues for marijuana shops show the regulated marketplace is effectively competing against the black market.

“We wouldn’t be selling to that level if we weren’t,” Christophersen said. The price of products on store shelves now, despite the tax, “are competitive with what we thought the black market was at one point.”
Pot bans could fall as taxes lure

Several dozen cities and counties statewide continue to have either an outright ban on marijuana storefronts or have put a pause on their inclusion while councils and commissions consider cannabis rules.

Some cities banned the stores until they could see how the state operated them and what image they would present, said Jim Doherty, a legal consultant with Municipal Research and Services Center, a nonprofit that provides policy guidance for local governments.

“I think some people were afraid these stores would open and there’d be these long-haired people hanging around in vans,” Doherty said. “People have gotten used to the idea that these look like retail stores now.

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Interesting story, thanks for posting.

"...there’d be these long-haired people hanging around in vans,”
Is this the look of the store front itself or the consumer base around said store fronts? i mean couldnt they at least imagine a food truck? if this vans a rocking you gotta just keep knocking.

Folks know what up...

Cannabis isn't as depressing as alcohol!
WA state needs cannabis to help it's depressed folks in that dark city up north.

MJPassion said:

Cannabis isn't as depressing as alcohol!

WA state needs cannabis to help it's depressed folks in that dark city up north.

Click to expand...

Haven't ever thought of cannabis as a depressant, more of an anti depressant. Alcohol for sure though.

Couldnt agree more with your bottom statement.

That's what happens when no one is allowed to grow and states close to you are illegal

So you can not grow legally in Washington even for personal? They are weird up there, you can not buy tobacco from out of state. Nanny state. At least the left wing kooks here in cali are allowing me to grow my own.

Sounds similar to Colorado's journey in the beginning. They're still growing/going strong....glad to see Washington echo efforts!!

wonder how the survey would come out if they compared weed sales to beer
i actually buy beer.. pot...not so much
to the folks that think it's dark and dreary here....that's what hps's are for

so, these morons think that only "long-haired hippies in vans" buy & smoke cannabis? WOW! no WONDER they were afraid of pot. nothing scarier than a scruffy-assed hippy sitting in a van eating wheat germ or something threatening like that...

Washington state is what the Americans call a Blue State, and from what I understand it always will be. I am not sure I understand it very well, but appears that the state generally elects the least conservative candidates running for just about any political office on a local or federal level.

It is one of the first to approve a quite liberal MMJ program. Getting a card was not that hard. They had medical clinics right by the University of Washington, with doctors giving recommendations to young students without a health problem in the world, from my limited understanding of them. It is kind of fishy having a med clinic near the school and all the patients being students tho. I went in that one by the university myself, because it is close to my shop, and I got my card for saying that I would prefer to use MJ to help with back pain in lieu of some form of narcotic. Ten minutes later I went to the dispensary next door to the clinic and bought some weed. (That first time was some-what overwhelming).

Washington was also one of the first states to go recreational. So having a liberal thinking state, or at least the deciding element being the very liberal Seattle Metro area, has it's advantages.

However, liberals feel that all the money in the world should be shared equally for those that want to work and those that don't. I am not a rich man, but I believe I pay enough in taxes every year to take care of 1-2 families.

So they love to tax us.

Cigarettes, for instance, cost about $10 a pack in Washington state, where places like North Carolina that would nearly buy a carton. A lot of vice is taxed up, like gambling, liquor and cigarettes. I suppose the thought pattern is that those are the ones that cause the largest impact on medical systems. Gas taxes are high here too, which to me just seems like a money grab. Washington state has some of the most expensive Gas, Wine, Cigarettes, and coming in close with weed. Add to that the sales tax, state lotto, a very aggressive police force citing people from everything to talking on the phone to not tying down debris in the back of their truck well enough. There are even cameras at intersections that mail you tickets from the evidence of your car being in the picture after the light has changed (some of those I have gotten a few of personally).

Washington makes beers and wines too, but they are much cheaper in California or Idaho than they are in Washington. Imagine the irony of paying more for a local product at home than another state. I prefer Oregon wines more, so that is not much of a problem for me.

The thing is, Washington is a very stingy greedy needy state. That is just about all there is to say about it.

The suggested tax package in the recreational initiative was about the only way you could get the state legislature to buy into a recreational weed law.

MJPassion said:

Folks know what up...

Cannabis isn't as depressing as alcohol!
WA state needs cannabis to help it's depressed folks in that dark city up north.

Click to expand...

Winters are depressing here. I have to get out of here about every six weeks between November and May.

Summers are the best here though. Perfect weather for outdoor activities.

It would be neat if a corresponding reduction inn violent crime would match with the sales. ( less booze, more weed + hopefully a more peaceful ( in general ) society.