Illinois has already crossed the $1 billion mark for leisure marijuana gross sales in 2022—two months sooner than when the state reached that threshold final yr—state knowledge exhibits. And it’s formally crossed $3 billion in adult-use hashish purchases since outlets first opened in 2020.
Whereas the August hashish gross sales complete of $129,441,315 is about $6 million beneath the 2022 month-to-month file set in July, Illinois’s complete for the yr now stands at $1,015,700,115.
By way of IDFPR.
Final yr, it took till October for the state to exceed $1 billion.
By way of IDFPR.
The earlier yr, which was when adult-use retailers opened, customers bought $669,084,410 value of marijuana.
By way of IDFPR.
Taken collectively, Illinois has seen $3,063,872,803 in marijuana gross sales because the leisure market launched, in keeping with data from the Illinois Division of Monetary and Skilled Regulation (IDFPR).
In distinction, it took Massachusetts greater than three years to achieve $3 billion in leisure marijuana gross sales as of Might.
For August, IDFPR exhibits that there have been $88,309,118 in gross sales from Illinois residents, along with $41,132,196 from out-of-state guests. A complete of three,063,423 hashish objects had been bought within the state final month.
Medical hashish gross sales figures are reported individually by a distinct state company, and aren’t accounted for within the new leisure knowledge.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) lately touted the state’s marijuana gross sales and ensuing tax income for the 2022 Fiscal 12 months. Illinois collected $445.3 million in tax {dollars} from $1.5 billion in hashish gross sales throughout that interval. That’s a 50 p.c enhance is hashish tax {dollars} in comparison with the prior fiscal yr.
Native governments obtained $146.2 in hashish tax disbursements within the newest fiscal yr, up 77 p.c from the prior yr.
Whereas 2022 leisure marijuana gross sales have been usually secure this yr, there’s an expectation that purchases might enhance demonstrably since officers lately permitted extra social fairness marijuana retailer licenses in July, which might be a big growth within the variety of dispensaries as soon as these companies change into operational.
The governor and different state officers have emphasised that they’re dedicated to making sure that parts of tax income from the marijuana market go towards group reinvestment, as prescribed underneath the state’s legalization regulation.
In June, Illinois officers introduced that the state is awarding $45 million in grants funded by marijuana tax {dollars} to assist group reinvestment in areas “hardest hit by the failed conflict on medication.”
That marks the second spherical of funding that’s being made out there by means of the state’s Restore, Reinvest, and Renew (R3) program, which was established underneath Illinois’s adult-use hashish legalization regulation.
Final yr, state officers additionally put $3.5 million in cannabis-generated funds towards efforts to scale back violence by means of avenue intervention applications.
From final yr’s gross sales, Illinois generated virtually $100 million extra in tax income from adult-use marijuana gross sales than from alcohol in 2021, state knowledge discovered.
Whereas state officers have constantly voiced their dedication to fairness, legalization’s rollout hasn’t been with out hiccups and frustration amongst would-be licensees. Illinois regulators have confronted authorized challenges over the way in which social fairness licensing purposes have been managed, with complaints in regards to the lottery system that the state later mentioned it will work to resolve.
A courtroom order prohibited the state from approving extra leisure hashish outlets for almost a yr earlier than that call was lifted in Might. With the ban eliminated, officers introduced in late July that they accepted new marijuana retailer licenses for social fairness candidates.
Nonetheless, an alliance of hashish companies and advocates, led by Chicago NORML, have expressed ongoing frustration over the state’s administration of the social fairness licensees, and so they held a press convention on Wednesday to name consideration to the difficulty.
Along with offering group reinvestment funding, the governor introduced in 2020 that his workplace had processed greater than 500,000 expungements and pardons for individuals with low-level hashish convictions on their data.
Pritzker additionally lately signed a invoice that may make it so courts can’t deny petitions to expunge or seal data primarily based on a optimistic drug check for marijuana.
A state-funded initiative was additionally lately established to assist residents with marijuana convictions get authorized support and different providers to have their data expunged.
In the meantime, California has taken in almost $4 billion in marijuana tax income because the state’s adult-use market launched in 2018, the Division of Tax and Payment Administration (CDTFA) reported in Might.
States that legalized marijuana for grownup use collectively generated greater than $3.7 billion in tax income from leisure hashish gross sales in 2021 alone, a report from the Marijuana Coverage Challenge (MPP) that was launched April discovered.