Colorado Marijuana Businesses Aren’t Paying Their Bills

On March 9, the state Marijuana Enforcement Division announced that total marijuana sales had cleared the $14 billion mark in February, nine years and two months after Colorado became the first state in the country to allow recreational pot sales. In a separate memo sent to business owners the same day, however, the tone wasn’t as celebratory.

Stuck in a recession for nearly two years, Colorado’s marijuana market is in such financial distress that state enforcement officials issued the memo to remind businesses to pay their debts and honor contracts with vendors and service providers.

Rumors of vendor contracts going unpaid have floated around Colorado’s pot industry since 2022, but now the MED gave the problem official recognition. Sent to all licensed marijuana business owners on…