The first 10 months of 2016 were a major hit for Colorado's marijuana shops. Reports reveal that legal, regulated cannabis sales topped $1bn (£790.1m), surpassing the previous year's sales.

October data from the Colorado Department of Revenue showed that recreational and medical cannabis shops in the state have sold nearly $1.1bn of marijuana and marijuana-related products this year. According to the Denver Post, 2015's year-end marijuana tax data, which was released in February, showed $996,184,788 in sales that year.

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"We think we'll see $1.3bn in sales revenue this year," a leading industry attorney, Christian Sederberg, told The Cannabist. "As to the economic impact of this industry - if we're using the same multiplier from the Marijuana Policy Group's recent report, which is totally reasonable - it suddenly eclipses a $3bn economic impact for 2016."

According to KDVR, October sales dipped from the record high set in September of $127.82m to $117.84m. Statewide totals for the year thus far have reached $1,092,159,291, the network reported.

Legal and regulated marijuana sales were approved through Amendment 64 in 2012, with sales beginning on 1 January 2014. KDVR reported that marijuana sales include a 2.9% sales tax, a special 10% sales tax, and a 15% excise tax on wholesale transfers.

The first $40m of the excise tax is set to go towards school construction projects, while anything over that limit heads to the state's public schools fund. According to The Cannabist, the $6m collected in October excise tax brought the yearly total to $49.7m.

Tax data for November will be released in January, while the tax data for December and 2016's year-end totals will be released in February.

According to Mic Network, seven states – Alaska, California, Colorado, Massachusetts, Nevada, Oregon and Washington – allow the legal use of recreational and medical marijuana. The 20 states allowing the legal use of just medical marijuana are Arizona, Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont.