At this time last year, State Health Dept Director, Tom Bates; testified to the legislature that his new Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority was expecting about 80,000 licenses to be sought by patients and businesses.
  In the 12 months since, his OMMA saw that number become wildly inaccurate. 240% of that number is what really transpired.
  The Board of Health (now disbanded) suggested that the population could probably be served by 50 dispensaries which should be strategically licensed around the state. There are now 3600% more than that number of granted licenses. Over 4000 commercial growers are licensed. Well over 1000 medicine processors are licensed.
  As of last month, over $50 Million in fees & taxes have been collected, nearly all of it in just the past 6 months.
 

  $20,666,145 in collected state & local Excise & Sales Taxes.(so far) That's the real impact for Oklahoma govt., because the people said, "Let those suffering people have access to their medicine!"
  But that's not even close to the full picture of what this has done for giving the state an infusion of new cash. The new business licenses to the OMMA brought in $17,960,000 already. The patient licenses also brought in roughly $12,000,000 (if we assume that one of every 3 applicants was on an approved govt. program which qualified for an 80% discount license fee).

  The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA) is the branch of the state Health Dept. which is statutorily tasked with managing this new program. They received a generous budget of about $8.5 million for this current fiscal year.
  ​Sales of medicine through the end of July are now $133,329,963. Almost all of that came in the past 7 months. the State's portion of taxation on the product is 11.5%, or $15,332,745.

  So the local govts. somehow got over $5 million that the statutes did not approve. It was done through a ruling from the Oklahoma Tax Commission, that the 7% tax that we voters approved, was really intended to be an unusual category of taxation known as excise tax. 

The publisher of SoonerPolitics.org passed this note to several of us..

  A little dispensary in the small town of Spiro, OK (10 miles from Ft. Smith,AR) was busted this week after the owner was caught selling methamphetamines twice to an undercover agent.  the news is angering thousands of patients who worry that the politics of the incident will become harmful to their health, if the incident leads to federal action or state regulations getting even more difficult for them to continue treatment of their frail health.
  This is the worst case scenario for those who fear a federal crack down. The fact that the Oklahoma Bureau of Narcotics & Dangerous Drugs handled the matter, & not a federal raid by FBI or DEA agents; is actually a god-send to patients and the law-abiding businesses producing, processing, and retailing the medicines. 
  The OBNDD completely confiscated the entire dispensary inventory and hauled it off.  It will likely be considered and asset forfeiture because it's part of a drug crime. The OBNDD could reassign or sell it to another licensed dispensary, but the arrested dispensary owner may also fight to have it used as collateral for his bond & attorney fees in his criminal trial. This could lead to landmark rulings for the industry.

  The Oklahoma Tax Commission (OTC) reports that tax collections for medical marijuana retail transactions have sharply risen again, in June. This makes the 5th consecutive month of increase of at least 33% of the month prior. These sales are subject to a 7% special tax which the OTC deemed an 'excise tax'. The OTC is also demanding that each retail sale also pay all common local and state sales tax.
  The legislature avoided correcting the loophole and double taxation during the spring session, leaving patients to struggle with about a 16% tax on all purchased cannabis medicines. This confiscatory tax rate is helping keep the illegal "black market" cartels in  business throughout Oklahoma. Many patients still patronize the black market dealers because the price is competitive.
  Total reported sales are now over 30 million per month and garnering about $5 million in taxes. Liquor taxes currently bring in about $10 million per month, and tobacco taxes are dropping well below $10 million per month. Not that tobacco consumption is flat, but many Indian tribes are selling cigarettes without the hefty state tobacco taxes.

  The disabled, sickly, & poor are now finding new access to the naturopathic medicine options, including cannabis.  Currently, more than two dozen MDs & DOs are accepting SoonerCare Patients and working with the Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority(OMMA). This means that clinic visits may become as low as $3 and the Patient license may be just $20. 
  This doesn't provide marijuana itself, but it does authorize the patients to grow their own therapeutic treatments rather than get govt. subsidized drugs which the taxpayers fund.  This is especially important to pain management patients whose bodies are in constant pain and who have depended on opiates for partial relief. By switching to cannabis meds, these suffering Oklahomans are reporting greater relief and restored mobility. Many are returning to some productivity and social interaction.
  We cross-referenced the latest list of SoonerCare providers with the OMMA list of participating physicians. we found 26 unique names of physicians, which we show in the map and spreadsheet below.

  Oklahoma's medical marijuana options are growing faster than projections.
  The Oklahoma Medical Marijuana Authority (OMMA) has released their July 1st report of licensure activity. It shows a brisk & continued utilization of cannabis medicine by the patients of Oklahoma.
  At this time last year, the Oklahoma Health Dept. (parent agency of the OMMA)projected close to 78,000 patient licenses by this coming Labor Day weekend.  That projection is wildly inaccurate and the state is on course to more than double those numbers.
  The business climate also continues to improve each week as the ratio of patients to dispensaries maintains a persistent increase to more than 90 patients for every dispensary license.
 Sales & Excise taxes are beginning to reach revenues comparable to tobacco & liquor.
  And all this time, none of the horror stories that were told by the 'Vote No' crowd are becoming reality. Cannabis medicines are proving to be safer (even off-label & casual) than liquor & tobacco.
Below you'll see a full set of spreadsheets detailing the economic indicators for cannabis meds in Oklahoma.

State Liquor tax collections have been about $10 million per month, for the last few years. That's what other media sources are reporting.
 And the upstart medical marijuana industry is exploding with sales increases every month which eclipse the previous month by over 20% more. The June tax collections of excise & sales tax will be between $4 million & $5 million.  By this time next year the number may be double what it is now.
  When you add the patient licensing and Medical Marijuana Business (MMB) licenses, there is already  a huge windfall for the state and municipal governments.
  And this is for a revenue raising measure which the voters overwhelmingly supported, just 1 year ago.  
  Average patient spending is increasing every month, and new patient licensure may be double the current tallies, by this time next year.
  We were expected to have around 70,000 patients licensed by next month. But the current number of licensed patients is double, and growing fast.