State Rx marijuana sales still setting records

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  • Medical Marijuana Sales
  • Data source: Oklahoma Tax Commission. Ledger chart by Mike W. Ray
  • Data source: Oklahoma Tax Commission. Ledger chart by Mike W. Ray
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OKLAHOMA CITY – Sales of medical marijuana in Oklahoma generated more tax revenue in the first six months of this year than in all of last year.

The 7% excise tax on MMJ, along with the 4.5% state sales tax coupled with local sales taxes, produced a little over $57 million in tax receipts from January through June, Oklahoma Tax Commission ledgers reflect. In comparison, the same levies produced $54.75 million in the 12 months of 2019.

Sales of medical marijuana products shot up after the statewide economic shutdown started in mid-March because of the coronavirus. The marijuana excise tax generated $18.42 million in March through June this year, an increase of almost 48% over the $12.46 million in marijuana excise tax revenue produced during the same four-month period last year, OTC records show.

Sales last month of MMJ products soared to a record high: almost $79 million – an average of nearly $252 for each of the 313,638 licensed MMJ patients in this state.

Between May and June, tax receipts from sales of MMJ products increased 23.5% in Lawton, 36% in Marlow and 53% in Frederick. But in Elgin, tax receipts from MMJ sales more than quintupled, skyrocketing from $9,935 in May to $56,560 in June.

The $25 million in taxes derived from the 7% levy on medical marijuana in the first half of this year indicates more than $357 million in medical marijuana products were sold during those six months.

Tax receipts from MMJ have increased in 18 of the last 21 months.

To date, tax collections from sales of medical marijuana products – including the MMJ excise tax plus state and local sales taxes – have climbed to $112 million.

Paula Ross, public information officer for the state Tax Commission, said all of the 7% tax will be disbursed to a designated fund at the State Health Department until the annual budget for the regulatory office (the Medical Marijuana Authority) is fulfilled.

Any proceeds in excess of the budgeted amount for running the regulatory office will be apportioned as follows:

25% to the Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation Fund at the Department of Health

75% to the state’s General Revenue fund

Terri Watkins, public information officer for the MMJA, said the Authority’s budget last year was approximately $25 million.

However, that will increase in the upcoming fiscal year (July 1, 2020, through June 30, 2021) when two new projects come online, she said. One is a quality assurance laboratory that will monitor the 21 MMJ laboratories in this state. The other will be implementation of a “seed to sale” program that will track marijuana from its start as a seedling to its sale to the consumer as a medical marijuana product.