Experts said total marijuana tax revenues in Colorado will reach US $94 million annually by 2016, which means the marijuana will be a US $1 billion retail market by next year.

Last year, Colorado's marijuana retailers sold about US $386 million worth of medical marijuana and US $313 million worth of marijuana used for purely recreational purposes.

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According to a Washington Post analysis of tax data, the two segments of Colorado's marijuana market generated a total of US $63 million in taxes, plus US $13 million in licenses and other fees.

The figure released did not include the sale of products related to marijuana use, such as bongs and pipes.

It also did not include how much tourists paid for hotels and restaurants coming to Colorado to buy or use marijuana.

The tax revenue that Colorado enjoys from its marijuana market has already caught the attention of other states, such as Vermont, that are now considering the legalization of marijuana.

While the state now is trying to figure out what to do with the marijuana revenue, growers and retailers are not rolling in riches because they are not eligible for tax cuts that other businesses enjoy.

A report recently released by researchers from The ArcView Group, a cannabis industry investment and research firm based in Oakland, California, forecast that legal marijuana could become larger that the organic food industry and its legalization will spread to all 50 states.

The report found that the US market for legal cannabis grew 74 percent in 2014 to US $2.7 billion, up from US $1.5 billion in 2013. The figure was based on a survey that the group conducted on medical and recreational marijuana retailers in states were sales are legal.

 "In the last year, the rise of the cannabis industry went from an interesting cocktail conversation to being taken seriously as the fastest growing industry in America," Troy Dayton, CEO of The ArcView Group and publisher of the third edition of the State of Legal Marijuana Markets, said in the executive summary of the report.

"At this point, it's hard to imagine that any serious businessperson who is paying attention hasn't spent some time thinking about the possibilities in this market," he added.

TagsLegal Marijuana, Colorado Marijuana Market