Alicia Wallace

Marijuana advocates are trumpeting a Colorado milestone: More than $500 million in revenue for the state since recreational cannabis sales started in 2014.

The medical and recreational cannabis tax revenue benchmark — achieved in May 2017 — was hailed Wednesday in a report from VS Strategies, the new public affairs and lobbying firm affiliated with cannabis law firm Vicente Sederberg.

The report highlights publicly available marijuana tax data from the Colorado Department of Revenue. It also outlines how some of those funds have been spent or allocated on both the state and local levels.

“It’s a meaningful milestone,” said Brian Vicente, a Vicente Sederberg partner and co-author of Amendment 64, the 2012 ballot measure in Colorado to tax and regulate adult-use marijuana. “Colorado continues to be an example for the world.”

VS Strategies hosted a news conference Wednesday to discuss the report. Speakers included Rep. Jonathan Singer, D-Longmont, who sponsored several marijuana-related bills in this past legislative session, and Lauren Arnold, chief executive of Adoption Exchange, an Aurora-based nonprofit that serves as a bridge to find adoptive families for children in foster care.

Adoption Exchange will receive a $116,000 grant next year — and could receive another $116,000 in each of the following two years — from the Tony Grampsas Youth Services Program, which was allocated more than $3 million in marijuana tax money.

The grant will fund an expansion in Adoption Exchange’s mentoring program for older youth who are close to “aging out” of the system, Arnold said. The program that served 10 children and teens from Adams County last year is expected to serve between 25 and 40 children and teens from the Denver metro area, she said.

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