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(Gillian Flaccus/AP)
Oregon medical marijuana dispensaries have sold an estimated $102 million in recreational cannabis since January, when the state imposed a 25 percent sales tax on pot.
The state has collected about $25.5 million in marijuana taxes in the first six months of the year and is on track to meet state economists' projections.
The latest tax figures, released Monday by the Oregon Department of Revenue, include the start of marijuana-infused edibles sales. The products include a wide variety of snacks, sweets and drinks and were available to anyone 21 and older starting in June.
The popularity of edibles was hard to project because it's difficult to measure the black market for them, said Mazen Malik, a senior state economist with the Office of Legislative Revenue.
"Consumers will not buy from somebody on the street corner selling them infused Kit Kats," he said.
Still, he said officials expected to see a bump from edibles' sales.
"We know some people would embrace them because they don't like smoking, for example, so it would be an easier thing to go to," he said. "Others would just want to try them because they are new and different and they want to see how they work."
State economists estimate that the state will collect about $44.4 million in marijuana taxes in 2016, the first year of the tax.
The state expects it will cost $28.7 million to regulate marijuana; of that, taxes will cover $12 million with the rest covered by fees and licensing of marijuana businesses.
What's left will be distributed according to a formula spelled out by law: 40 percent to the state's Common School Fund, 20 percent to mental health, alcoholism and drug services, 15 percent to Oregon State Police, 10 percent for city law enforcement, 10 percent for county law enforcement and 5 percent to the Oregon Health Authority for alcohol and drug abuse prevention, early intervention and treatment services.
Oregon's medical marijuana stores have been allowed to sell a limited amount of cannabis flowers, as well as starter marijuana plants and seeds, to anyone 21 and older since last October. The state's temporary 25 percent tax kicked in on Jan. 1.
That tax eventually will be replaced with one ranging from 17 percent to 20 percent once the Oregon Liquor Control Commission takes over regulation of recreational marijuana sales later this year.
The Legislature set the base tax rate at 17 percent, but cities and counties can adopt ordinances that add up to 3 percent more.
-- Noelle Crombie
503-276-7184; @noellecrombie