(and facts about the local cannabis scene)

Looking for fun facts about Colorado? The My 420 Tours team is a bunch of trivia geeks. We’re also natives and locals who know a TON about our beautiful home state of Colorado, our mile-high hometown of Denver, and the transformation that has happened since cannabis was fully legalized back in 2012.

On a 420 Tour, we will regale you with nugs of local knowledge such as facts about Colorado, facts about the Colorado marijuana phenomenon, and all sorts of other trivia and ephemera that we collect just for our guests. Here are some of our favorites.

Fact: Coloradans love our state flag, and we put it on pretty much everything.

Fun Facts about Colorado

The “sunshine state” is actually here. Denver averages 300 days of sunshine per year, which is more than both San Diego and Miami Beach.

The elevation of Denver is 5,280 feet. It’s nicknamed the “Mile High City” because it is one mile above sea level. The 13th step of in front of the capitol building is exactly one mile above sea level.

Fact: Denver is known as the Mile High City

Peaks that rise above 14,000 feet (4,267 meters) are referred to as “fourteeners” by locals. Colorado has 52 of them. Bring your hiking shoes! Summiting a fourteener has become a popular goal for locals and visitors alike. 

We’ve got “purple mountain majesty” galore. It was on top of Pikes Peak (elevation 14,114’) that Katherine Lee Bates was inspired to write the words to “America the Beautiful”. 

Colorado is the only state in history to turn down the Olympics. In 1976, 62% of the state voted to not host the event.

Denver International Airport is larger than the cities of Manhattan, San Francisco, and Miami. In terms of acreage, it is the 2nd largest airport in the world.

Fact: Denver International Airport is home to a giant horse sculpture nicknamed “Blucifer”

The Blue Mustang sculpture in front of DIA is nicknamed Blucifer because in 2006 a piece of the statue fell on the creator and killed him. And that’s just the beginning of the lore and conspiracy theories to discover about Denver’s iconic airport. 

Colfax Avenue, which runs through Downtown Denver, is the longest continuous street in America. Its checkered, gritty vibe has gained it the nickname “the longest, wickedest street in America.”

Red Rocks, our world-famous outdoor concert venue, won the best amphitheater award so many times they converted the name of the award to “The Red Rocks Award”. 

Fact: When you go to a show at Red Rocks, most of the audience is high.

These are boom times. Denver is growing at such a rapid rate that we are maxed out on cranes that can come into the city, with over 40 cranes working to build the changing skyline of the Mile High City.

Etymology fact: “Colorado” actually means “colored red” in Spanish. It is also known as the Centennial State because it was established in 1876 — which is 100 years after the U.S. declared independence.

We’ve been ghosted. It’s estimated that there were once more than 1,500 ghost towns in the state of Colorado leftover from the mining era. Today, a little over 600 still remain.

Roughly 70% of Colorado’s population lives right up against the Front Range of the Rockies where the mountains run into the Great Plains. This is also where Denver and Colorado Springs — the two most populous cities — are located.

Nederland, Colorado is home to a body that has been frozen cryogenically for decades. It’s the namesake behind their annual “Frozen Dead Guy Days” festival.

More than 10 percent of the nation’s craft breweries can be found in Colorado, which is impressive given that the state is home to less than 2 percent of the country’s population. Colorado is home to nearly 230 established breweries.

Despite all the beer and weed, we’re relatively lean. Colorado has the lowest obesity rate in the country (about 23% of adults).

Fact: Coloradans spend a lot of time outdoors. Or high. Or both.

Fun Facts about Marijuana in Colorado

The first arrest for cannabis possession and selling happened in Denver, Colorado in 1937.

Overdose and suicide rates have dropped since cannabis went legal in Colorado in 2012. There has never been a death caused by the use of cannabis.

Pot shops are in good supply here. In Colorado, there are more dispensaries than Starbucks and McDonalds combined. Interestingly, there is only one dispensary near the Denver airport.

The regulated cannabis industry in Colorado supports over 40,000 jobs from farmers to retailers, it accounts for 5.5 percent of Colorado’s employment growth, and it has so far contributed over $800 million in tax revenue, according to the Colorado Department of Revenue.

Fact: Cannabis industry employees must obtain a state-issued occupational badge

Legal cannabis is good news for Denver. From 2014-2018 more than $11 million of Denver’s marijuana revenue will be granted for distribution to youth-serving organizations by Denver’s Offices of Children’s Affairs and Behavioral Health along with additional funds allocated for Denver’s “High Costs” youth prevention campaign.

In 2018 alone, $12.4 million from Denver’s marijuana-related revenue was appropriated to add investments for deferred maintenance, affordable housing and opioid intervention in Denver. The City budgeted $8.8 million in expenditures across city departments and agencies for regulation, enforcement, and education.

Based on 2017 market data, Colorado sales totaled 186.5 metric tons of flower, 19.7 metric tons of trim, 4.5 million units of packaged edibles and 1.1 million units of non-edible infused products (topicals, etc.) All told, over 300 metric tons of marijuana products were sold in Colorado in 2017.

Packaging for recreational edibles was standardized to 10mg/serving, 100mg/package in October 2016. New labeling requirements also mandated each edible to be stamped with a “THC” symbol and to avoid the word “candy” in their descriptions.

In Colorado, state retail sales tax on cannabis was increased to 15% (up from 12.9%) in August 2017.

In Colorado, wholesale market prices are falling. In 2016, wholesale cannabis flower averaged $1816/lb, while in 2017 average wholesale flower prices had dropped to $1305/lb.

Tourists to Colorado like to toke. According to a state-funded market study, visitors consume one gram of marijuana flower per “use day” while visiting Colorado.

In October 2014, the requirement for vertical integration (cultivation AND sales integrated into the same dispensary) was lifted in Colorado, allowing a new wave of business entrants into the market.

“Heavy” consumers have been found to consume approximately 1.6 grams of flower per day. Based on the average potency of 19.6%, this equivalates to 314mg THC consumed per day.

Daily cannabis consumers (22.5% of all consumers, 26-31 days per month) are responsible for over 70% of the products consumed market-wide.

Fact: Mandatory recreational cannabis potency testing began in 2014.

NUGS OF 420 KNOWLEDGE AND FACTS ABOUT COLORADO

LEARN FACTS ABOUT COLORADO ON A GROW TOUR

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