Illinois Recreational Marijuana Sales Set New Record In June

CHICAGO — The Illinois cannabis industry blazed through another month of record recreational marijuana sales totals in June, as the state's 56 adult-use dispensaries sold nearly a million THC products worth nearly $48 million, not counting taxes.

Sales to those with out-of-state identification were up by more than 21 percent, while pre-tax spending by Illinois residents rose by less than 3.5 percent for overall monthly growth of about 7.5 percent.

In six months since the possession, use and retail sale of marijuana was legalized in Illinois, the state's dispensaries have sold over $239 million worth of merchandise.

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According to the Illinois Department of Revenue, more than $52.5 million in adult-use cannabis tax was collected in the first five months of the year.

The department is due to release June's tax figures later this month, when Patch estimates it collected at least $13 million more.

The start of July marked an increase of 3 percent or more to Illinois recreational marijuana taxes, as municipalities and counties that decided to allow adult-use sales can begin collecting their own taxes.

This month was supposed to be the deadline for issuing new types of licenses to allow smaller players into the state's cannabis industry, which has been so far dominated by a handful of large companies with little diversity at their helm.

Ahead of the passage of the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act, the bill legalizing recreational weed in Illinois, existing medical marijuana dispensaries lobbied legislators and the governor's administration to allow them to effectively monopolize the adult-use market for the first quarter of legalization.

Meanwhile, supporters of the bill, the nation's first legislatively implemented cannabis legalization scheme, praised it as the most equity-focused in the country.

"The Pritzker administration remains committed to protecting and pursuing diversity in the adult-use cannabis industry, despite the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic," Toi Hutchinson, the former state senator who was one of chief sponsors of the bill and now serves as Pritzker's senior cannabis advisor, said in a statement last month. "Pritzker has made it clear the state's new industry is about more than revenue, it's about ensuring communities that have been left out and left behind have new opportunity."

But since the coronavirus pandemic shutdown much of state government, Gov. J.B. Pritzker has issued executive orders extending or suspending the deadlines to apply for and issue licenses to allow new businesses to enter the market, including independent dispensaries, craft growers, infusers and transporters.

Acting Illinois Department of Agriculture Director Jerry Costello II said the department was working to offer multiple entry points into the industry for Illinois residents who live in communities hardest hit by cannabis prohibition.

"The COVID-19 pandemic and the 6-week deadline extension granted to applicants have caused unforeseeable delays in the application review process," Costello said. "The Department is working tirelessly to ensure that applications are scored and awarded in a fair, deliberate and equitable manner."