Trinidad, Colorado, a town of about 8,000 nestled in the foothills of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, has long drawn dreamers and seekers. In the late 19th century, its bountiful coal deposits drew immigrants to work the mines and run local businesses. Later, people came from all over to see Stanley Biber, one of the nation’s only skilled gender-reassignment surgeons.
But the coal seams emptied and the mines shut down and Biber’s practice moved to California, leaving many of the town’s stately Victorian storefronts vacant and the economy in ruins. In 2012, however, Colorado residents threw Trinidad a lifeline: They voted to legalize recreational marijuana.
Many communities jumped on the bud-tending bandwagon, but Trinidad was uniquely positioned to succeed. Its leaders generally welcomed the industry. The infrastructure was already there, left over from the coal-mining days, and real estate was cheap, making it relatively affordable to set up shop. Perhaps most importantly, the town sits along a well-traveled interstate highway just 13 miles from New Mexico — where marijuana wasn’t legalized until 2021. Before long, a couple of dozen dispensaries lined the streets, raking in millions of dollars a month and earning the city the moniker “Weed Town.” Trinidad was a destination once again.
Ever since California legalized medical marijuana in 1996, the West has led the nation in making the once-taboo drug acceptable. Now recreational marijuana is legal in every state in the West except Utah, which permits medical use, and Idaho and Wyoming, where you better steer clear of wacky tobacky even if you’ve got a medical card.
Legalization has been a boon to communities that border non-legal states. And it has generated billions for public services, from schools to addiction programs.
But now, following a pandemic-era spike, the industry seems to be coming down from that first-toke buzz. Oversupply is an issue now; marijuana tourism has taken a hit as more states legalize weed, and black-market competition is intense. Does that mean the party’s over? Or is the industry simply settling down, becoming a bit more mature and stable? Here’s a look at the highs and lows of the Western marijuana economy.
$57: Estimated total tax an Alaskan paid for one ounce of cannabis flower in 2022, the highest in the nation.
$19: Tax a New Mexican paid on an ounce of cannabis in 2022.
121,000: Number of illegally grown marijuana plants eradicated by the California Cannabis Enforcement Taskforce in the second quarter of 2023.
$17,113: Amount property value increases in legal-marijuana states exceeded those of non-legal states between 2017 and 2021.
$12,701/lb: Average wholesale price for cannabis extracts/concentrates in Oregon in May 2017. It was $4,536/lb in November 2023.
$22: Per capita marijuana sales in Multnomah County, Oregon, population 800,000.
$265: Per capita marijuana sales in Malheur County, Oregon, population 32,000. Malheur County borders Idaho, where marijuana is illegal.
80%: Percent of Oregon’s legal marijuana that’s grown outdoors.
34%: Percent by which marijuana sales tax revenue declined in Las Animas County, Colorado, after recreational became legal in New Mexico in 2022. The county, home to Trinidad, borders New Mexico.
102: Number of armed robberies, burglaries or “smash-and-grabs” targeting Washington cannabis dispensaries in 2022; federal banking rules force many dispensaries into cash-only business, making them vulnerable to theft.
1/1/2024: Date that a Washington state law banning employers from using cannabis testing as a condition of employment went into effect.
SOURCES: Colorado Department of Revenue, Oregon Liquor and Cannabis Commission, Real Estate Witch, MJBizDaily, State of Nevada Department of Taxation, Nevada Cannabis Association, Vangst, New Mexico Regulation & Licensing Department, Leafly, California Department of Tax and Fee Administration, Montana Department of Revenue, Tax Policy Center, California Cannabis Enforcement Taskforce, Marijuana Policy Project, Uncle Ike’s i502 Robbery Tracker, Nevada Cannabis Association, Arizona Department of Revenue, High Times.
Note: This story was updated to correctly represent Idaho’s laws on marijuana sales; they are illegal in the state.
Infographic by Luna Anna Archey/High Country News
Jonathan Thompson is a contributing editor at High Country News. He is the author of Sagebrush Empire: How a Remote Utah County Became the Battlefront of American Public Lands.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline The state of the West’s cannabis economy.
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