$1.6 billion of product sold in 2023
By DILPREET RAJU
Capitol News Illinois
draju@capitolnewsillinois.com
Last year, Illinois recreational cannabis dispensaries sold a record $1.6 billion of product, accompanied by a record number of sales to Illinois residents.
Sales to out-of-state residents, however, fell by $71 million from 2022’s total, marking the first drop in that category since cannabis was legalized on a recreational basis in January 2020.
The growth in 2023 marked a 5 percent increase from the year prior, meaning the pace of the industry’s growth is slowing. From its first year of legalization to its second, sales grew by 106 percent, while in 2022, growth was marked at 12 percent from the year prior.
There are 177 recreational cannabis dispensaries operating in Illinois, including 68 that were “social equity” applicants, 64 of which opened last year. That’s a term the law gives to individuals who are impacted by cannabis-related offenses, those who have lived in a disproportionately impacted area within the last decade, or dispensaries that employ at least 10 full-time employees and at least half of them meet the previous standards.
State revenue from cannabis taxes, licensing costs, and other fees feed into the Cannabis Regulation Fund, which is used to fund a host of programs including cannabis expungement, the general revenue fund, and the R3 campaign aiming to uplift disinvested communities.
For the 2024 fiscal year, nearly $122 million has been paid out from that fund for related initiatives, including $42 million in transfers to the state’s general revenue fund, according to the Illinois Department of Revenue.
Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service covering state government. It is distributed to hundreds of newspapers, radio and TV stations statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation, along with major contributions from the Illinois Broadcasters Foundation and Southern Illinois Editorial Association.
