The governor of Illinois is touting new marijuana income figures that present the state collected $445.3 million in tax {dollars} from $1.5 billion in hashish gross sales in the course of the 2022 Fiscal Yr.
Whereas gross sales have remained comparatively flat since peaking in December, the state noticed marijuana tax income improve by about 50 p.c in comparison with the prior fiscal yr, when Illinois collected $297.7 million in hashish income.
Native governments acquired $146.2 in hashish tax disbursements within the newest fiscal yr, up 77 p.c from the prior yr.
In the meantime, officers authorised 149 social fairness marijuana retailer licenses on Friday, which is sort of triple the variety of presently working storefronts. That expanded entry, as soon as the brand new dispensaries open, may have a major impression on future gross sales and tax income.
“Illinois has accomplished extra to place justice and fairness on the forefront of this business than another state within the nation and has labored to make sure that communities damage by the battle on medicine have had the chance to take part,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) said in a press launch.
Illinois made historical past once we legalized adult-use hashish with probably the most equity-centric method within the nation.
As an enlargement of our program, we’re issuing dispensary licenses to 100% social fairness candidates in an effort to reverse the decades-long failed battle on medicine.
— JB Pritzker (@JBPritzker) July 22, 2022
“The $1.5 billion in gross sales of adult-use hashish in Illinois interprets into important tax income with a portion of each greenback spent being reinvested in communities which have suffered for many years,” he mentioned.
To that finish, Illinois officers introduced final month that the state is awarding $45 million in grants funded by marijuana tax {dollars} to help group reinvestment in areas “hardest hit by the failed battle on medicine.”
That marks the second spherical of funding that’s being made obtainable by the state’s Restore, Reinvest, and Renew (R3) program, which was established below Illinois’s adult-use hashish legalization legislation.
“Legalizing hashish for adults has been a smart funding for the Illinois financial system and gross sales have continued to rise, resulting in extra income for the state,” Senate Majority Chief Kimberly Lightford (D) mentioned. “Constant cash-flow from the hashish business assists the state with funding important companies resembling violence prevention, psychological well being, and native authorities.”
Final yr, state officers additionally put $3.5 million in cannabis-generated funds towards efforts to scale back violence by road intervention applications.
Illinois officers have touted the energy of the state’s marijuana market, however they’ve confused the significance of placing tax {dollars} from this system to good use in repairing the systemic harms of prohibition.
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 information discovered.
“The hashish business continues to have a optimistic impression in Illinois,” David Harris, director of the Illinois Division of Income (IDOR), mentioned. “It has created tons of of jobs at cultivation facilities and dispensaries all through the state, and tax income generated continues to circulation to native governments, assist with drug applications and coverings, and can be being reinvested again into the communities that want it probably the most.”
Whereas state officers have persistently 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 best way social fairness licensing purposes have been managed, with complaints concerning the lottery system that the state later mentioned it might work to resolve.
A courtroom order prohibited the state from approving 185 extra leisure hashish outlets for almost a yr earlier than that call was lifted in Could. With the ban eliminated, officers on Friday introduced that they accepted 149 new marijuana retailer licenses for social fairness candidates.
“Illinois is main the best way in addressing the Battle on Medicine as no state has earlier than, and dispensary possession that displays our state’s variety is a product of that dedication,” Pritzker said final week. “These licenses signify a major step towards accountability for the a long time of injustice previous hashish legalization. Illinois will proceed to ship on the guarantees of placing fairness on the forefront of this course of.”
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 information.
Pritzker additionally not too long ago signed a invoice that can make it so courts can’t deny petitions to expunge or seal information based mostly on a optimistic drug take a look at for marijuana.
A state-funded initiative was additionally not too long ago established to assist residents with marijuana convictions get authorized help and different companies to have their information expunged.
It’s most of these initiatives that Toi Hutchinson not too long ago instructed Marijuana Second that she’s most happy with as she transitioned from being Pritzker’s hashish advisor to the president of the nationwide advocacy group, the Marijuana Coverage Mission (MPP).