Tight controls and reporting requirements by the Oregon Department of Revenue and Oregon Liquor Control Commission should result in accurate information about pot, as said by Bruce Pokarney, spokesman for the state Department of Agriculture. The department compiles an annual list of the state’s most valuable crops.

The temporary sale of recreational marijuana by medical marijuana dispensaries became legal in Oregon last October. A 25% tax on sales is charged by the dispensaries. When licensed recreational retailers begin operating in January, the tax will drop down to 17 percent.

As of May 30, the sate had collected $14.9 million in marijuana sales taxes.

This information, however, poses another problem. Most agricultural statistics published by the agricultural department come from the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). Although marijuana is legal in several states, the federal government still classify marijuana as an illegal drug. Dave Losh, Oregon state statistical for NASS, said the agency won’t include marijuana in its annual crop statistics due to federal policy.

For the same reason, people can’t use water from federal projects to irrigate marijuana, he said, and such things as Natural Resource Conservation Service programs can’t be applied to pot crops.

Pokarney, of ODA, made a joke about the department saying they would need to put an asterisk beside the pot crop value in its annual report. “We will have sales numbers, but I don’t know how we would report it,” he said.

Oregon crop statistics from 2014 list cattle and calves as the state’s top agricultural product, at $933 million value. Greenhouse and nursery plants took second place with $8529 million, and hay was third at $703 million.

Seth Crawford, an Oregon State University sociology professor who teaches a pot policy class, estimated in 2015 that Oregon’s marijuana crop had an annual value approaching $1 billion.

Meanwhile, the OLCC continues to process license applications as entrepreneurs seek opportunities in the state’s recreational cannabis market.

As of June 21, there were 723 applications to grow marijuana in Oregon. Of those, 122 were in Jackson County and 91 were in neighboring Josephine County. The tri-county Portland area, including Multnomah, Clackamas and Washington counties, accounted for 250 of the license applications.

Of processing facilities, 25 of the 82 license applications were from Multnomah County, and 69 of 193 were retail applications.

The state also received applications from 7 testing labs, 57 wholesalers and 1 research facility.

Some licenses have been approved, many others are in draft form or are being reviewed for land-use compliance by local governments.

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According to new date from the state Department of Revenue; licensed and regulated marijuana stores in Colorado sold $996,184,788 worth of recreational and medical marijuana in 2015.

Cannabis industry attorney Christian Sederberg said Tuesday upon hearing the 2015 totals “I think it’s ethical to round that up to a billion”.

The recreational marijuana sales in Colorado first started on Jan, 1, 2014.

The state also collected more than $135 million in marijuana taxes and fees in 2015; over $35 million of which is marked for school construction projects.

One of the principal drafters of Colorado’s pot-legalizing Amendment 64, attorney Steve Fox claims; “These are amazing numbers, especially on the tax revenue side.”

Colorado released December 2015 marijuana tax data, showing a major uptick in month-over-month sales. Recreational pot sales increased more than 21% from November to December, lading at $62.6 million – a monthly record in the state’s legal era. Medical sales also increased more than 32% in the same period, totaling $39.1 million.

The data on Colorado marijuana sales and taxes ended months of speculation surrounding the 2015 totals, which some believed would exceed $1 billion. Even though the sales amount didn’t reach that lofty mark, legalization advocates are still content with the 2015 totals.

Mason Tvert, the Marijuana Policy Project’s communications director said; “It’s remarkable than less than seven years ago, all of that money was being spent in the underground market”. “Clearly there’s a large demand for marijuana, and we’re now seeing that demand being met by legitimate businesses that are answering to authorities instead of criminals who answer to nobody.”

Colorado’s 2015 marijuana tax and sales totals tell a story of implementation and growth. While the state’s pot shops sold more than $699 million of cannabis in 2014, they sold more then $966 million in 2015 – a year when more pot shops opened, more municipalities started started allowing these businesses and customers to find their way into the regulated market. The totals for taxes and licenses grew from $76 million in 2014 to $135 million in 2015.

The school-funding 15% excise tax on wholesale marijuana transfers jumped from $13.3 million in 2014 to more then $35 million in 2015, according to the state.

“I’m really proud of our state and proud of our legislators and local officials, who have helped us transition away from an underground market so quickly,” said Sederberg, “so that our state can see the benefits of tax revenues, regulated sales, jobs and economic development.”

There are currently three types of state taxes on recreational marijuana; the standard 2.9% sales tax, a 10% special marijuana sales tax, and a 15% excise tax on wholesale marijuana transfers. For December, Colorado collected $11.3 million is recreational taxes and fees and almost $2 million in medical taxes and fees.

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