Cannabis Sales In Illinois Top $140M In July Setting New Record, Gov Pritzker Says Legal Weed Created 30,000 Jobs

Illinois' cannabis retailers sold $140 million in weed products in July, breaking a record for 2023 and marking the second-highest monthly total since legal sales launched in 2020. Illinois is hosting the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference in Chicago on Sept 27-28. 

The state Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (DFPR) released sales figures Thursday showing that in July people purchased 3.5 million cannabis products for a total of $140,048,722.

But let’s give credit where credit is due. Illinois had a bit of help from its friends, noted MM. While the lion’s share of purchases (nearly $105 million) was made by Illinois residents, reported Marijuana Moment, out-of-state visitors dropped some $35 million at Illinois' more than 100 weed shops. 

Where are most of the canna-tourists coming from? Apparently, from Wisconsin.

After this week’s launch of Minnesota’s retail weed market, Wisconsin is the lone state in the Midwest where all forms of marijuana are still illegal. So, who can blame folks for taking a road trip now and again to store up on stash from s friendly neighboring state?

Results of state estimates showed that in March Illinois had collected $36 million in tax revenue from Wisconsin residents alone.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker 

Gov. Pritzker (D), a keynote speaker at the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference in Chicago is actively moving the marijuana industry along.  

Last week he signed a Senate Bill seeking to reintegrate people who’ve been released from incarceration. He's also overseen thousands of expungements. 

"I have expunged more than 800,000 low-level cannabis arrest records on top of pardoning an additional 26,000 people who committed nonviolent offenses," Pritzker said. "Illinois has reduced our prison population by more than 26% in the last four years. We have invested hundreds of millions of dollars to lift up communities most harmed by the failed war on drugs."

Since Pritzker signed the cannabis legalization bill into law two years ago, it has been praised as the “most equity-centric” legalization effort in the nation.

Legalization Has Also Created Thousands Of Jobs

Gov. Pritzker said cannabis legalization has resulted in the creation of more than 30,000 jobs in Illinois over these past two years. He noted in February that “Illinois is home to the country’s most diverse cannabis industry and some of the largest companies,” which include Cresco Labs Inc CRLBF CL, Verano Holdings Corp.VRNO VRNOF, Green Thumb Industries GTBIF and privately held PharmaCann.

The Economy

Job creation hasn't been the only benefit created by legalization in Illinois. The state’s economy has been positively impacted. Illinois’ weed sales reached a whopping $1.5 billion in 2022 and it seems 2023 is on track to meet or break that impressive record.