Following a drop in September cannabis sales numbers in Illinois, October figures totaled $142.3 million, a 4.2% increase sequentially, reported New Cannabis Ventures' Alan Brochstein.
Cannabis sales for the first ten months of 2024 have reached $1.5 million, as recreational marijuana sales in Illinois are about to enter its fifth year following the launch on Jan 1. 2020, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) data showed.
This past July, cannabis sales reached the $1 billion mark year-to-date, beating last year’s July 10 milestone.
"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," Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker commented on the sales figures. "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."
In October, Illinoisans purchased 4,160,706 cannabis items. In-state residents bought $111.5 million worth of cannabis products, while out-of-state resident sales reached $30.7 million.
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Dominant players include Cresco Labs Inc (OTC:CRLBF), Green Thumb Industries (OTCQX:GTBIF) and Curaleaf Holdings, Inc. (OTCQX:CURLF), to name a few.
Gov. Pritzker was a keynote speaker at the Cannabis Capital Conference in Chicago in 2023, where he outlined the Restore, Reinvest and Renew (R3) Program initiative and the state’s broader landscape of cannabis legislation and social equity. Pritzker has often touted the many benefits of marijuana legalization.
The legislation has helped Illinois become the home of some of the largest cannabis companies in the country, creating more than 30,000 jobs along the way. The state also expunged over 800,000 low-level marijuana possession charges. Pritzker personally pardoned tens of thousands of people who had been convicted.
In November, Pritzker, University of Illinois System President Tim Killeen, cannabis researchers, and other government officials launched the Cannabis Research Institute (CRI), which aims to advance the public’s understanding of the scientific and socio-economic impacts of cannabis use and production.
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