Illinois Marijuana Sales Approaching $1 Billion For 2021

ILLINOIS — Marijuana sales are going strong in Illinois. According to Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, cannabis retailers have sold nearly $1 billion of legal recreational cannabis products so far this year — not counting taxes.

Preliminary numbers recently released show statewide adult use cannabis sales last month totaled almost $122 million — that's about $54 million more than the same time last year.

For 2021, Illinois marijuana sales have already surpassed last year's sales by almost $300 million. With a few months left in the year, last year legal marijuana sales topped $669,084,410.12. For Sept. 2021, sales are already at 997,067,100.34.

A breakdown of the monthly marijuana sales for 2021 and 2020 can be found below:

The majority of marijuana sales, more than $684 million so far, has come from in-state purchases this year, according to the IDFPR data. More than $312 million purchases have made up out-of-states sales.

This is the seventh month in a row that recreational marijuana sales surpassed $100 million for 2021 — with the first time occurring in February. Cannabis sales in Illinois have continued to steadily climb since last year.

Earlier this year, Todd Maisch, president and CEO of the Illinois Chamber of Commerce, predicted that the state would "blow past" $1 billion in cannabis sales this year - so far his prediction looks to be spot on.

He said one factor contributing to Illinois' explosive growth is that most neighboring states haven't legalized marijuana yet.

"What we saw early on in states like Washington and Colorado is they did have demand come in from surrounding states, which frankly benefits our industry and benefits the taxes collected," Maisch said.

Cannabis industry insiders have predicted the Illinois market will eventually grow to more than $2 billion a year.

Illinois legalized adult-use cannabis with the first legal sales beginning in Jan. 2020.

Related:

• Despite Pandemic, Illinois' Legal Weed Sales Skyrocket
• Illinois Rakes In $369.7 Million In Cannabis Taxes
• Illinois Marijuana Tax Revenue Outpaces Liquor Amid Record Sales