Illinois: +1 billion $ of cannabis sold in 2020, 500,000 lockers erased in 2021

Illinois surpassed $1 billion in legal cannabis sales in 2020, according to recent state data.

Legal cannabis sales were launched in Illinois in early 2020, and the state noted a significant upward trend in cannabis purchases in the months that followed, also boosted by the coronavirus pandemic.

Now, state officials report at least $1,000,308,800 in total sales of recreational and medical cannabis purchases during the year, excluding December's medical cannabis sales data which has yet to be released, for a little over 12 million inhabitants.

In December, 87 million Q1-Q4 units of recreational cannabis were sold (and 1.9 million products), which is approximately 10 million Q1-Q4 units more than the previous month. Total monthly recreational sales have more than doubled since retail stores opened in January (39 million $).

These sales figures translate into significant tax revenue. As of October, the government had collected more than 100 million euros in taxes on cannabis sales since the market opened.

Approximately 25% of the taxes collected on cannabis sales are earmarked to address the harm caused by the war on drugs in the communities most affected, while other funds support substance abuse prevention efforts and mental health treatment. The state announced in May that it was awarding approximately $31 million in social equity grants to communities identified as economically disadvantaged.

In parallel with these economic results, Democratic Governor J.B. Pritzker expunged nearly 500,000 cannabis-related criminal records in the state, four years ahead of the scheduled 2025 deadline.

«We will never be able to fully remedy all of the damage in communities of color, which have disproportionately borne this burden,» declared M. Pritzker. «But we can govern with the courage to admit our past mistakes, and the decency to chart a better course.»