Total marijuana demand in Colorado, where the nation's first recreational pot shops opened in January, is estimated at 130 tonnes this year, a study for the state's revenue authority said on Wednesday, according to The Associated Press.
A day after Washington became only the second state to allow recreational sales of the drug to adults, the report said the projected demand in Colorado was much higher than anticipated, the AP reported.
"This study finds total marijuana demand to be much larger than previously estimated," Colorado's study concluded, according to the AP.
That's about 121 metric tons for residents and almost 9 metric tons a year for visitors, with the figures including medical and recreational marijuana, the AP reported. Marijuana has an average market rate in Colorado of $220 per ounce, authors concluded.
Colorado's market numbers bore out survey estimates that most marijuana is consumed by heavy daily users, according to the AP.
The survey authors estimated that a third of all Colorado's pot consumers use the drug less than once a month, but that group accounts for just 0.3 percent of the total market, analysts concluded, the AP reported.
"Heavy users consume marijuana much more often, and more intensely, than other consumers," the study concluded, according to the AP.
"The primary difference is caused by much heavier dosage amounts consumed by the state's 'heavy user' population - those who consume marijuana on a daily basis," said the report, prepared for the Colorado Department of Revenue, the AP reported.
The report also said tax figures showed that the retail supply of marijuana was growing in the state, while supply via medical marijuana dispensaries had remained relatively constant, according to the AP.
"The retail demand is derived primarily from out-of-state visitors and from consumers who previously purchased from the Colorado black and gray markets," the report said, the AP reported. According to the report, an estimated that out-of-state visitors currently accounted for about 44 percent of retail sales in the Denver metro area, compared with about 90 percent in mountain resorts.
