

Washington state’s marijuana market has become so large that it has almost taken over alcohol sales.

Marijuana sales surpassed the $200 million mark in the second quarter of 2016 for the first time, just $37 million short of the revenue generated from alcohol sales, reports the Tacoma News Tribune.

Washington’s marijuana sales from the second quarter of 2016 totaled nearly $212 million, while alcohol sales during the same period amounted to almost $249 million.

The state ended recreational sales through medical dispensaries in July, making all sales go through licensed recreational pot shops. Recreational sales rose to $66.6 million in the third quarter and brought 2016’s total sales to $278.6 million.

Advocates of the state’s legal cannabis program believe that the regulated marketplace has provided effective competition against black market sales.

“We wouldn’t be selling to that level if we weren’t,” Vicki Christophersen, a lobbyist for the marijuana industry who heads the Washington CannaBusiness Association, said to the Tribune. The price of marijuana products found in legal shops “are competitive with what we thought the black market was at one point.”

The success of Washington’s legal marijuana system may serve as the impetus for cities and counties to put an end to self-imposed bans on pot sales.

“I think some people were afraid these stores would open and there’d be these long-haired people hanging around in vans,” said Jim Doherty, a legal consultant with Municipal Research and Services Center, to the Tribune. “People have gotten used to the idea that these look like retail stores now.”