Colorado's cannabis market, once a frontrunner in the U.S. for recreational marijuana sales, has experienced a downturn. In 2023, the state's cannabis sales barely surpassed the $1.5 billion mark, a decrease from $1.7 billion in 2022 and a significant drop from the peak of over $2 billion annually in 2020 and 2021.

This downturn marks the lowest sales year since 2017, with December sales totaling $115.8 million, culminating in a year-long total of $1.52 billion.

Despite this, Colorado has reached a milestone of $15.5 billion in total sales since the market's inception in January 2014. The decline in sales is attributed to the end of the pandemic...