Illinois marijuana sales reach $1 billion for year to date

CHICAGO (CBS) -- This month, the state of Illinois reached $1 billion in retail sales of cannabis for the year.

Gov. JB Pritzker's office announced Wednesday that state reached the milestone for marijuana sales on July 1—earlier this year than last. In 2023, the state hit $1 billion in marijuana sales on July 10.

Fiscal Year 2024 saw total cannabis sales exceed $2 billion, which exceeded the figures for Fiscal Years 2023 and 2022.

"Illinois has the most equitable cannabis industry in the country and it's growing and thriving," Pritzker said in a news release. "The increase in total adult-use cannabis sales, combined with the policies my administration is implementing to support communities ravaged by the War on Drugs, highlights how this emerging industry is helping us set a national standard in equity and economic justice. Growing sales in 2024 means cannabis tax revenue will continue to play a major role in righting decades of wrongs in the state's criminal justice system."

The state's Cannabis Regulation Oversight Office shows Illinois residents made 81% of the total value of cannabis purchases for the first six months of the year, while out-of-state consumers made the other 19%. The sales broke down to 49% cannabis flower, 32% vape, and 22% edibles—along with liquid edibles at 1.1%, the state said.

"More and more cannabis businesses opening their doors means more and more unique products for consumers to choose from," Cannabis Regulation Oversight Officer Erin Johnson said in a news release. "We welcome these new opportunities for ownership and employment to help support individuals and communities across the state in undoing the harms from the War on Drugs."

Tax revenue from cannabis sales has led to more than $244 million in state grants for programs in youth development, economic development, and violence prevention, the state said.

The revenue also helped the state set up the Illinois Cannabis Social Equity Loan program, which helped connect the legal cannabis industry to communities historically impacted by the criminal justice system over marijuana, the state said. Almost $22 million in forgivable loans have been issued to craft growers, transporters, and infusers through the social equity program, the state said.

However, many social equity cannabis license holders in Illinois were held up by years of state delays, COVID delays, lawsuits, and red tape—which crushed some businesses before they even started in the first couple of years after recreational marijuana was legalized.

Recreational marijuana became legal in Illinois on Jan. 1, 2020 , following a successful push that served as a major element of Gov. Pritzker's first campaign for office in 2018.

Medical use of marijuana was legalized beginning more than a decade ago on Jan. 1, 2014, after then-Gov. Pat Quinn signed a bill authorizing it into law the prior August.

There are currently 218 licensed dispensaries in the state.