According to a new study, the demand for legal marijuana in the state of Illinois will be greater than the ability to supply it by licensed growers.
The study, which was commissioned by state legislators, has found that legal recreational marijuana in Illinois could drive demand as high as 550,000 pounds a year. This is more than the state can supply.
The study was performed by the Colorado consulting firm Freedman & Koski.
“We have a whole industry that’s treating it like the gold rush, but you have generations of folks who are still living with all the impacts of what the criminal justice system did to them,” said Sen. Toi Hutchinson, D-Chicago Heights. “It’s unfair to discuss this in any other way.”
“Systems that either dramatically fall short of demand or that oversupply the market create public policy challenges,” the report says. “Avoiding both is an important expectation from the public, from producers, and from public health and public safety officials.”
According to the report, if the market in Illinois is fully met, the state could see at least $440 million a year in tax revenue.
