OKLAHOMA CITY – The State treasury is getting high returns from medical marijuana. The state reaped $21 million from the medical marijuana tax and state sales tax over the last 10 months. From October 2018 through July 2019 the Oklahoma Tax Commission (OTC) collected $9.3 million from the 7% marijuana levy plus $11.9 million from the 4.5% state sales tax on marijuana purchases, for a total of $21.2million, ledgers reflect.
Tax receipts from the marijuana tax have mushroomed, from zero last October to $2.5 million last month; receipts passed $1 million in just seven months. Marijuana tax receipts shot up by almost $373,000 between February and March, by more than $401,000 between March and April, and by $551,000 between May and June.
OTC joint collections last month from medical marijuana and sales tax soared to $5.65 million, its highest level yet. Collections surged by $1.2 million between May and June, and by more than $735,000 between June and July. The 6,589 medical marijuana businesses licensed in Oklahoma include 1,725 dispensaries, 3,856 growers and 1,008 processors, records of the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority show. The state had approved medical marijuana for 168,575 patients as of Aug. 13, state Health Department spokesman Tony Sellars said.
Marijuana dispensaries in Comanche County number 47; they include 37 in Lawton, three in Medicine Park, one north of Lawton on SH-49, two in Cache and four in Elgin. Other dispensaries in southwest Oklahoma include seven in Altus, six in Duncan and two in Marlow, three in Frederick, four in Hobart and one in Snyder, two in Devol and one in Randlett, two each in Anadarko and Hydro, one each in Fort Cobb and Binger, 11 in Chickasha, one each in Hollis and Granite and two in Mangum.