A broad scope of cannabis businesses has been approved by voters in one of Colorado’s western towns. On Tuesday, April 3, voters from the northern Colorado town of Berthoud also voted to grant the sale of recreational cannabis products.

Medical cannabis retailers are already permitted in the town.

Recreational cannabis sales in Colorado given the go-ahead in two more towns

Included in the variation of businesses that have been approved by voters in Colorado’s western towns are medical and recreational cannabis stores, cultivation facilities and manufacturing facilities.

A municipal sales tax was also approved by Naturita voters, with under 100 voters contributing to each question. This resulted in a very close result.

One such example of a neck-to-neck vote was the 56 people who voted to permit stores and the 41 who voted against.

According to Election Clerk Diana Starks, the six ballot measures associated with cannabis businesses and taxes will go into effect in January 2019. The town’s board now strives to enact regulations for recreational cannabis retailers, according to Clerk Christian Samora.

The Colorado Principal League has revealed how in separate votes, four other towns approved measures for local cannabis taxes. They were Crawford, Delta, Ordway, and Yuma.

Orchard City residents have voted against a cannabis tax measure, however.

Celebrating 5 years of a weed-friendly Colorado

On November 4, 2017, Colorado and Washington celebrated five years since both states became the first in the entire nation to legalize cannabis.

Since Colorado passed Amendment 64 in November 2012 to legalize cannabis for adults aged 21 and over, the state has experienced rapid revenue growth.

Best of all, this revenue growth does not seem to be slowing down.

As of January 2018, the Marijuana Enforcement Division claims that almost 510 licenses had been issued for Colorado’s recreational cannabis dispensaries.

The state claims the total revenue pulled from both medicinal and recreational cannabis sales in Colorado continued to rise from 2014 to 2015.

Close to 68 million was earned by the state in 2014, a figure that increased by almost double within a single year to $130 million.

Revenue hit $193 million in 2016 and between January to November of 2017, total revenue had already grown to $1.4 million. This is according to the Colorado Department of Revenue‘s new series of marijuana sales reports.

Included in this revenue is the overall sales of cannabis products, cannabis application and license fees, retail excise tax, sales tax on medical and retail cannabis.

If the state continues to vote in favor of recreational cannabis sales in Colorado, a significant portion of its revenue could be pulled from the medical and recreational cannabis markets in years to come.

With Gov. John Hickenlooper revealing how Colorado would not attempt to block cannabis legalization, nor ask the federal government to get involved, the weed-friendly state looks set for a very green future.