120 Tons
1.2 billion dollars
365,000 customers
Those are the numbers that seem to be the most basic of Washington State’s analysis of the legal cannabis market. I’ve been interested in this business since encountering it in Northern California, and Initiative 502 in Washington set in motion a real analysis of this currently black market.
Have you ever heard ever a news story that 500 pounds of marijuana has been captured by border patrol, worth 37 gajillion dollars on the street? Note the video and see that nasty-looking guns are in the picture? Ever wonder whether any of this true? It all sounds dramatic, but is it really?
The 120 tons is the amount of Washington-grown cannabis to meet the demand of 365,000 customers. Customers will pay about $16 a gram for cannabis. The numbers are flaky, but Washington has an interest in getting these things right, best I can tell political interests are not playing yet. 120 is what Washington consumers will need, ignoring export which is strictly prohibited.
Colorado is taking a different approach, relying on their experience with the medical marijuana business. California’s data is so strange as to be useless, though it could be really useful if they legalized it.
So now you have the “right” numbers in Washington State. Are they right, are they accurate? Best I can tell, they may not be far off at all.
1.2 billion dollars. Now, that’s a number that politicians like…..