Retail cannabis has entered a recreational renaissance in Grand Junction, but the medical cannabis industry across Mesa County and the rest of Colorado has essentially burned out.
"There are days where we see maybe 10 clients on the medical side now," Colorado Alternative Healthcare owner Jesse Loughman said. "As we're seeing (business) decrease with the more readily available recreational cannabis, it does not make sense to run two separate stores any longer."
The Colorado Department of Revenue has tracked retail cannabis sales since it was legalized in January 2014, and in that first month, more than $32.5 million in medical cannabis was sold statewide, more than twice the amount of recreational cannabis sold in the same month. Ten years later in January 2024, however, only $15 million in medical cannabis was sold, and more than six times more ($100 million) was sold in recreational cannabis dispensaries.
Medical cannabis first came to Colorado in 2000, and within the decade, more than 10 medical dispensaries opened shop across Mesa County. In 2011, residents of Grand Junction and other towns in Mesa County voted against medical cannabis and in favor of banning dispensaries. Although recreational cannabis wasn't legalized in Colorado until 2012, it was also prohibited by the ballot measure.
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