Illinois has been seeing big sales each month since legalizing recreational marijuana back in January.
The state has broken another record for marijuana sales in September, selling nearly $100 million in combined adult-use and medical cannabis. Total sales for September was $99,086,699.10, compared to more than $95 million in sales in August.
The new sales record was reported Monday by the state and tops sales in August by nearly $4 million. It includes more than 1.4 million items sold.
Almost $18 million, or about a fourth of the sales, went to out-of-state residents, according to the monthly report by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. The department licenses marijuana dispensaries in the state.
“We are not surprised to see another record month for cannabis sales in September approaching $100 million,” said a spokesperson for Chicago-based Green Thumb Industries, a multi-state operator with facilities in 12 legal cannabis markets in the United States.
“Consumer demand remains strong throughout the ongoing COVID-19 crisis and we expect industry growth to continue as operators ramp up capacity to increase supply, new stores open throughout the state, and existing stores add adult-use sales,” the spokesperson said to High Times.
Illinois marijuana sales have hit $431M sold since legalization. Sales figures do not include the taxes collected on adult-use cannabis sales.
It was back in May that Illinois state regulators announced that 75 additional licenses for recreational cannabis dispensaries that were scheduled to be awarded would be delayed because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Last month, the state announced that out of a total of 700 applicants, only 21 who achieved perfect scores on their applications would advance to the lottery for those 75 licenses.
Gov. J.B. Pritzker announced that two-thirds of the finalists are from companies owned by people of color. “When we’re done with this process, we will have the largest percentage ownership by people of color anywhere in the nation,” Pritzker said.
