Sales of cannabis in the state of Illinois totaled a record $121.5 million in January compared to being flat in December.
In December, Illinois reported $86 million in adult-use sales from 1,896,941 cannabis products—which was a previous record for the state.
This was a growth of 94% from January of 2020 when the state first began selling adult-use recreational marijuana.
Adult-use sales, according to the state, totaled $88.8 million, up 126% from a year ago and 2% from December while out-of-state purchases represented 28% of adult-use sales. Medical cannabis sales fell 5% sequentially to $32.7 million, up 40% from a year ago.
Dry flower accounted for 47% of total sales to 65,448 patients.
Bethany Gomez, managing director at Brightfield Group, which tracks the cannabis industry nationally said of last year’s state sales, “There are still some challenges in some places, but it’s generally a functional market at this point. A wide variety of dispensaries are open, and you can generally get the products you want.”
Alyssa Jank, an analyst at the Brightfield Group has said, “I wouldn’t expect constant upward trends every single month.”
Illinois’ marijuana shops are operated by the same group of owners that dominated the medical cannabis market before recreational sales were made legal. These operators reported over $1 billion in medical and recreational weed sales last year.
Former state senator Rickey Hendon has said, “The fat keep getting fatter and they need to not be so greedy,” Hendon said. “Their waistlines are going to increase; why not let some poor people eat too?”
