Upon legalization of medical marijuana, many became concerned if it will be used for the purpose of medicinal health or just an excuse to smoke pot legally. And since the two states, Colorado and Oregon, have already legalized marijuana, it seems that the suspicions could be legitimate.
According to Greenwave Advisors, there was a decline in the patient's growth where adult use marijuana legally. From 2014 to 2015, Colorado's recreational marijuana sales increased to 86% while medical marijuana sales rose only to 5%, Forbes reported.
"We were surprised to see the drop in patients, but it's long been suspected that some patients were really recreational users and the numbers seem to support it," said Matt Karnes, the founder and managing partner at Greenwave Advisors. He did offer that it could just be that patients prefer the ease and convenience of the retail stores. The average monthly revenue per medical use dispensary in Colorado only increased 3%, while recreational retail sales saw their revenue increase by 17%.
