By Duke London

Retail marijuana sales are big business in Oregon, and the newest tax numbers prove it.

The state has collected over $40 million is tax revenue on more than $160 million in total recreational cannabis sales — and the year isn’t even over yet.

Oregon’s Department of Revenue released the encouraging tax data on Monday, which details the premiums dispensaries pay to operate legally within state lines. Since legalizing cannabis for recreational use two years ago, Oregon has been collecting sales tax on all retail sales of flower, concentrate, and edibles at a clip of 25%.

This year, new regulation mandated that all dispensaries serving recreational clientele would have to obtain a license from Oregon Liquor Control Commission by the beginning of 2017. Dispensaries who are licensed through the OLCC are only required to pay 17% sales tax on their cannabis product revenue. The OLCC issued its first dispensary license earlier this month, and three shops currently enjoy the tax relief; Emerald City Medicinal and Hwy 99 Cannabis Co. in Eugene and Apothecaria in Cottage Grove are each recognized by the OLCC.

Dispensaries that refrain from serving retail clientele in favor of the medical side of the business are exempt from paying sales tax to the state. In the city of Eugene, 26 medical marijuana dispensaries offer recreational sales for customers without doctor recommendations.

In July, we told you that Oregon was on pace to rack up about $43 million in canna-taxes for the whole year. Oregonians must have been insulted by the apparently low estimates, as they ramped up their buying practices quite a bit since this Summer. If consumer buying practices in Oregon continue, the state will take in nearly $50 million in taxes for 2016. Hopefully, the ban on strain names like Girl Scout Cookies won’t hurt next year’s sales too dramatically.