We're only two months into retail sales of cannabis to folks without a medical condition so it's way too soon to exhale any conclusions about how much tax money this new market will generate for the state.
Still, the early returns -- about $300,000 per week in state sales tax revenue -- tell us a lot will have to happen before we see any ganja gold rush. It's going to be a long time before the direct sales tax revenues from this new industry pay for all state costs.
"The Krispy Kreme moment that everyone thought the state was going to have...it’s a little bit behind our projections," said Ray Pantalena Jr., managing partner at Affinity Dispensary in New Haven. "Expectations were set a bit high."
Expectations by the state, that is, for revenues.
That pretty much echoes what I heard from Ben Zachs, chief operating officer at Fine Fettle, with hybrid medical-adult use stores in Newington, Willimantic and Stamford and the state's first pure recreational, social equity retailer in Manchester.