Dennis RomeroWe've said it before. Los Angeles alone has more dispensaries than the states of Colorado and Washington combined.
Yet all the attention seems to focus on Colorado because the state saw its first year of legal recreational marijuana sales in 2014. We're one step removed from that: Californians still need to lie to a doctor about back pain to get weed legally.
Still, it turns out that California leads the nation in cannabis sales, according to The Economist. The publication recently crunched the numbers and determined that pot sales in the Golden State amounted to $1.127 billion dollars in 2014.
Pat yourselves on the back.
The next biggest pot market is Colorado, which saw $801.9 million worth of bud change hands last year. Washington came in third place with $316.2 in pot sales. Fourth was Arizona with $142.2 million in marijuana sales. Michigan was the only non-Western state to make the top 5 here. Its sales reached $65.8 million, says The Economist.
Credit: Timothy Norris/L.A. Weekly
The publication found that California's $15.40 price for a gram of legal marijuana cost nearly the same as the $15.86 national average.
The Golden State produces much of America's domestic weed. But Oregon sells it for the least amount of money, $9.78 a gram, according to the analysis, which pulled data from various sources, including Leafly.
Oregon also had the lowest price for illegal bud, $6.81. California's illicit-cannabis price is said to be $7.33—among the lowest in the nation.
Credit: The Economist
Colorado has more than doubled its legit weed sales after last year's recreational marijuana bonanza. At this rate it will surpass California this year.
However, Golden State voters will very likely be weighing a recreational marijuana law in 2016. And that could affirm our status as America's cannabis heartland.
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