Illinois Pot Sales Drop Dramatically From Record-Setting December

CHICAGO — Pot sales across Illinois have fallen off dramatically since December, when dispensaries across the state did more than $137 million in sales, according to new data released by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation

Sales at Illinois 110 dispensaries totaled just less than $114 million in February after sales reached more than $117 million in the first month of 2022, data shows. The drop of nearly $20 million comes a month after pot shops across the state set an all-time record since marijuana was legalized in Illinois.

Data shows that dispensaries sold 2.5 million cannabis-related items in February as compared to 2.6 million in January and more than 3.1 million items in December.

Last year, the state’s licensed dispensaries did $1.379 billion in sales, but the drop in sales has some concerned that rising costs and limited supply of cannabis across the state are pushing residents to purchase pot elsewhere.

Records released by the IDFPR indicate that pot sales have reached the lowest they’ve been since last March when just more than $109 million was sold by licensed dispensaries. Those who work in the field worry that while pot sales have generated more than $2 billion since 2020, the drop in sales indicates that other issues are at play.

“Right now, it’s just a captive market in which the ability to grow ….is just being monopolized,” Andy Seeger, a cannabis consultant, told the Sun-Times.

Seeger cited controversies over the process of licensing dispensaries which, in some cases, has been held up by requirements prioritized for social equity applicants in an effort to diversify the state’s pot market, the Sun-Times reported.

Seeger told the station that state officials “need to get out of the way” and allow more competition and open up more shops.

Related: Amid Pot Shop License Legal Limbo, Simpler Process Proposed

On Tuesday, Gov. JB Pritzker announced plans to simplify the licensing process for dispensaries across the state. The plan would remove barriers for social equity applicants and expand opportunities that are targeted most impacted by the failed war on drugs, the governor's office announced.

The IDFPR is required by the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act to issue at least 50 new licenses to dispensaries by the end of 2022.

"From day one, Illinois has been dedicated to leading the nation in an equity-centric approach to legalizing cannabis, and these proposed changes to the application process will make it much easier for social equity applicants to pursue licenses," Pritzker said in a statement issued by his office. "I appreciate all the feedback we have received from stakeholders since the start of the cannabis program, whose work informed this proposal and is continuing to make Illinois' growing cannabis industry the most equitable in the nation."