Denver dispensaries sold more than $587 million in marijuana in 2017 even as sales in shops in other parts of the state continue to grow.

Retail sales totaled $377 million in Denver, according to the city’s annual report on the marijuana industry released Thursday. The city’s revenue from all marijuana sales in 2017 grew to $44 million, a 20 percent increase from the previous year.

Denver uses the money to pay for regulation of the marijuana industry, enforcement of its laws and drug education. It also helps pays for maintenance, affordable housing and opioid intervention.

“This new report demonstrates Denver’s coordinated approach between multiple agencies to manage marijuana is working,” Denver Mayor Michael B. Hancock said in a news release. “We took on the daunting challenge of becoming the first major city in America to manage legalized recreational marijuana and we are having success.”

While crime related to the drug represents less than 1 percent of all crimes committed across Denver, dispensaries remain a target for burglaries. Dispensaries make up less than 1 percent of businesses in the city, but they account for about 10 percent of all reported business burglaries. [Read more at The Denver Post]