Illinois Is Selling More Than $100 Million In Weed Every Month
Don't worry, it's not to just one guy. That would be a bit extreme, even if one were to apply Cheech & Chong standards to the equation.
No, those sales have gone to lots of Illinois residents...and quite a few have gone to our Midwestern neighbors (Wisconsin, we're looking at you).
The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) Says 2021 Sales Are Already At A Billion Dollars
According to the numbers posted at the IDFPR website, the lion's share of recreational marijuana purchases at Illinois' dispensaries (about $684 million) were made by Illinois residents, but a pretty hefty chunk of the state's overall take (over $312 million) came from out-of-state, or just-across-the-border.
2021 Sales In Illinois Are Currently Running At $300 Million Over Last Year
Just last month, the IDFPR's numbers show that sales came in at around $122 million. When compared to September of last year, this year came out about $54 million more than a year ago. And that's just one month. For the year, 2021 is up over $300 million from 2020.
Last year's total take for recreational marijuana sales was around $669 million. With a little over two months left in 2021, Illinois' recreational weed sales sit at approximately $997 million. I don't think it's overly optimistic to think that the billion dollar threshold will soon be crossed, if it hasn't already.
Experts Think That Illinois Hasn't Even Hit Half Of Its Potential Peak In Sales
According to a piece at Patch.com, some experts in the cannabis industry think that Illinois is only about half-way to its sales zenith, figuring that Illinois residents are probably going to raise the state's take to $2 billion in sales.
Todd Maisch, president and CEO of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, told Patch.com:
...one factor contributing to Illinois' explosive growth is that most neighboring states haven't legalized marijuana yet.
What we saw early on in states like Washington and Colorado is they did have demand come in from surrounding states, which frankly benefits our industry and benefits the taxes collected.