USA. Colorado alcohol sales increase despite cannabis legalisation

Colorado officials found an unexpected  rise in alcohol sales after they legalized cannabis.  Everyone else was expecting to see a decrease in alcohol sales as people shifted from recreational alcohol to recreational cannabis.  Many in the alcohol industry had opposed cannabis legalisation fearing that it would substantially damage the sales of alcohol.  In California the California Beer & Beverage Distributors made a $10,000 donation in a failed attempt to oppose the move towards cannabis legalisation. Colorado officials have been monitoring the sales of alcohol via tax receipts which rose by 2.1% during 2014-2015, the same amount as the previous year


More information on this story can be found here http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2015/aug/31/alcohol-industry-sales-marijuana-colorado?