Headset CEO Cy Scott Presents Colorado Cannabis Data at IgniteIt's Market Spotlight: Colorado

Headset Took the Stage in Denver

On September 18, 2026, Headset CEO and Co-founder Cy Scott presented at IgniteIt's Market Spotlight: Colorado at the Westin Denver Downtown, sharing a data-driven look at where one of America's original legal cannabis markets stands today. Headset also supported the event as a Preferred Partner Sponsor.

Colorado has sold adult-use cannabis longer than anywhere else in the world, so its data offers an early look at what market maturity means for brands and retailers everywhere. Missed it? The slides are below, and the full industry report has the detail behind them.

Event at a Glance

• What: IgniteIt Market Spotlight: Colorado
• When: Friday, September 18, 2026
• Where: The Westin Denver Downtown, Denver, CO
• Headset's role: Speaker (CEO Cy Scott) and Preferred Partner Sponsor

Cy's Slides

Download Slides

Figures reflect data through August 2026 and may differ slightly from the published report.

The Headline: A Smaller Market Finding Its Floor

Colorado is on pace for roughly $1.15B in 2026, three years into decline, with each year's drop smaller than the last: -8.2% in 2024, -4.2% in 2025, and -3.3% so far in 2026. That decline comes even with a brand-new 64-store Colorado Springs market inside the state's numbers.

The state has slipped out of the top ten by dollars, as Ohio, Maryland, and New Jersey moved ahead, and spend per resident has roughly halved since 2021 (about $385 then, $192 now). Per resident, Colorado is still a top-six market. And compared with its mature Western peers, it is holding up: Colorado is down 3.3%, against Washington at -3.9%, Michigan at -4.9%, and Nevada at -15.1%, while the East is where growth is happening.

What the Colorado Data Shows

1. Price found a floor, even as units keep falling.

Colorado is the only major market where average item price is rising (+5.7%), while every other market in the comparison is falling. Dollars are down 3.3% and units are down 8.5%, so the market is selling fewer items at higher prices. Discounting has risen from 15.9% in 2024 to 17.8% in 2025 and 18.9% in 2026.

• For retailers: Plan for fewer units and higher-value transactions. Discount creep is the number to watch, up three points in two years.
• For brands: The volume is not coming back on its own, so growth comes from trade-up and mix, not from selling more units at lower prices.

Colorado deflated first and hardest, and it is now the first mature market to find a floor.

2. Pre-roll is the only category growing.

Pre-roll grew 8.7% to $99M, while flower (-1.1%), vapor pens (-2.8%), edibles (-9.2%), and concentrates (-12.1%) all contracted. Pre-roll is 12.8% of Colorado sales against 16.9% nationally. Nationally, pre-roll has already passed edibles. In Colorado, the gap closes within a year.

• For retailers: Colorado is under-indexed on the one category that is growing. Assortment, placement, and availability are the levers.
• For brands: Growth can come from expanding the category itself, not just fighting competitors for the same consumer spend.

A growing category in an under-indexed market creates headroom that most categories no longer offer.

3. The customer is trading up inside every category.

Across categories, the premium format is taking share. Infused pre-rolls grew from 32.6% to 38.5% of pre-roll dollars (up 19% year to date, while plain single-strain pre-rolls are flat). All-in-one vapes grew from 30% to 45% of vapor pen dollars, with cartridges falling about 12% a year and disposables on track to pass them in 2027. Rosin grew from 22% to 35% of concentrates and has passed wax as the number one concentrate, at $37 an item against $14.

• For retailers: Shift space toward infused pre-rolls, disposables, and rosin, and review whether value cartridges still earn their shelf position.
• For brands: Premium formats are where the share is moving. Value cartridges and national gummy brands were among the biggest losers.

Infused over plain. Disposable over cart. Rosin over wax.

4. The brand leaderboard turned over in twelve months.

Green Dot Labs now leads at $33.2M (+26%), followed by Seed & Strain at $30.3M (+43%) and Green Label Cannabis at $25.7M (+20%). Wyld (-22%) and Spherex (-24%) both fell. Bonanza dropped from #4 to #11 (-40%), while Natty Rems climbed from #19 to #15 (+56%). The winners are Colorado flower operators and premium vape brands, vertically integrated and home-grown. The top brand holds just 4.3% share, and the top ten are about 30% of the state.

• For retailers: The category is open enough that assortment decisions can influence which brands gain scale.
• For brands: Leadership is available to companies that can build consistent distribution, velocity, and repeat purchase rather than relying on an established position.

Nobody owns Colorado yet. The next leaders are still being established.

5. Where a store sits matters as much as what it sells.

Published menu sales per store per day vary about four-fold across the state, from $17.1K in Grand Junction (9 stores) and $14.4K in Palisade (4 stores) to $4.2K in Denver (145 stores) and $2.6K in Boulder (24 stores). Border markets stand out: 13 Western Slope stores near Utah, which is medical only, account for 8.7% of state menu sales at $27 per unit against $12 in Denver. Sedgwick, on the Nebraska border, has the highest flower price in Colorado at $10.52 a gram. Near the New Mexico border, Trinidad's ten stores each sell under $2,000 a day.

• For retailers: Benchmark against your own region, not the state average. Border and destination stores play by different rules.
• For brands: Denver has the stores, but it is not where productivity or price per unit is highest. Prioritize accounts by market, not by door count.

There is no single Colorado market. There are several.

What to Do With It

Retailers: Build pre-roll and premium formats into the assortment, watch discount creep, and use your region's performance as the benchmark.

Brands: Lead with trade-up formats (infused, disposable, rosin), invest in distribution depth while the leaderboard is open, and choose markets within Colorado deliberately.

Investors: Colorado is a smaller, more stable market with prices that have found a floor. Its path offers a preview of what other mature Western markets may face.

One more data point from the session: the number one flower strain in Colorado in 2026, by dollars, is Blue Dream, and number four is Golden Goat. Everything about this market changed in five years. The number one strain didn't.

Read the Full Report

Cy's session was a snapshot. The report goes deeper on categories, pricing, discounting, package size, and the competitive landscape.

Read: Colorado 2026 Market Deep Dive: A Bellwether for Cannabis Market Maturity

Connect With Headset

Want to see what the data shows for your brand, stores, or markets? Explore current data on our Colorado Market Page, or sign up for Headset Insights for the full dataset. You can also chat with our sales team.