Prairie State Wire

Illinois is well on its way to surpassing $1 billion in adult-use marijuana sales this year, according to the latest information from the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR).

Marijuana sales in September surpassed $120 million to in-state and out-of-state residential sales, according to a breakdown from the IDFPR last updated on Oct. 4.

Gov. J.B.Pritzker | twitter.com/jbpritzker

Sales in September were the third month in a row that adult use cannabis sales blew past $120 million and surpassed the more than $86 million in in-state and out-of-state residential sales made in September of last year.

Total in-state and out-of-state residential sales this year reached more than $997 million, just a few million from the $1 billion mark with three more reporting months to go.

That would be a tremendous increase over last year's in-state and out-of-state residential sales, which surpassed $669 million.

In-state and out-of-state residential sales in Illinois every month this year surpassed the same month last year by at least $45 million. The greatest monthly increase so far this year came in July, with more than $127 million in In-state and out-of-state residential sales, compared to the almost $61 million in sales the same month last year.

The lowest monthly increase this year was in February, which had almost $81 million in In-state and out-of-state residential sales, compared to almost $35 million in such sales the same month last year.

Sales of recreational marijuana became legal in Illinois on Jan. 1 of last year following passage by the Illinois General Assembly of House Bill 1438, which legalized recreational marijuana use and sale for adults. Gov. J.B. Pritzker, who promised during his run for governor that he would work to legalize marijuana, signed HB 1438 in June 2019.

The first full month of in-state and out-of-state residential sales in the state, January of last year, came to more than $39 million.

This past January, those sales came to almost $89 million.

Not surprisingly, in-state residential sales consistently make up the bulk of marijuana sales in the state, totaling than $496 million last year and thus far this year bringing in more than $684 million.

Recreational sales of marijuana are illegal in all states contiguous to Illinois, with only Iowa and Missouri allowing medical marijuana sales.