Economic forecasters are predicting that the state's new legal recreational marijuana market will bring nearly $190 million to state coffers over a four-year period starting in mid-2015.
The forecast released by the Economic and Revenue Forecast Council on Wednesday showed that $51 million in revenue is expected for the 2015-2017 biennium from marijuana production and sales. An additional $138.5 million is expected for the next two-year budget.
The passage of Initiative 502 in 2012 allowed the sale of the marijuana to adults for recreational use at licensed stores, which are expected to open by this summer.
An updated forecast for the current two-year budget cycle shows that lawmakers may have $30 million more available to them through 2015, and that they'll have an additional $82 million than additionally projected for the 2015-2017 biennium, with more than half of that increase due to the recreational marijuana market.
