Really Stoned

A new Colorado State government study states there are about 100,000 very stoned Coloradans. They are the approximate one-quarter of the pot smoking population and they account for two-thirds of the 130 metric tons of annual demand of marijuana (130,000 kilos, or about 286,000 U.S. pounds, or roughly two U.S. pounds a year per heavy user).

There are nearly half a million Coloradan marijuana users (use substance once a month), but most of them are casual users.

Dope Data

• 487,000 adults use marijuana once a month, 9% of population
• Heavy users: 22% of users equal 67% of demand
• Casual users: 54% of users equal 4% of demand
• 7% tourist sales statewide, 90% in ski towns

Colorado was predicting $35 million for the first six months of 2014 in tax revenue, but has only collected $15 million because most sales are still taking place at medical marijuana outlets.

This is the beginning of a long story on Colorado’s experiment in drug legalization. We are likely to hear much more about the 100,000 heavy drug users.