How much marijuana has been grown in Washington? Over 150,000 pounds of useable marijuana produced in fiscal year 2017 under Washington’s Legal System. Washington’s legal marijuana market is booming, which is resulting in a lot of cannabis being grown.
According to the Washington State Liquor and Cannabis Board, there has been 363,268 pounds (lbs) of marijuana harvested in fiscal year (FY) 2017, which began on July 1, 2016 and ends on June 30. Of this harvested marijuana, 155,494 lbs is considered “useable”, which is what is sold at marijuana retail outlets.
Outside of dried flower, this harvested cannabis has led to 20,736 lbs of marijuana extracts being produced. This has resulted in the sale, this year alone, of 5,790,351 units of inhalation products (vape products), 2,923,042 units of edibles (brownies, cookies), 729,508 units of marijuana-infused liquids (drinks, tinctures), and 179,419 units of topicals (lotions, ointments).
The hundreds of thousands of pounds of marijuana harvested has resulted in over $1.2 billion in legal marijuana and mariuana products being sold this fiscal year; $1,259,612,511 to be exact. This is already considerably more than the total amount sold in FY 2016, which was $972,729,675. In FY 2015, the first FY where cannabis sales were legal, there was $259,785,729.
In Washington, cannabis is currently taxed at 37% at the point of sale. However, when sales first began in July of 2014, the tax was set at 25% at three different levels. In 2015 the tax was lowered by lawmakers as a means to allow the legal system to better compete with the black-market. The same year lawmakers shuttered the medical marijuana system, forcing patients into the recreational system.
This is a trend that has been observed since legalization in Washington. In 2015 alone, sales increased 242%.
credit:theweedblog.com