Illinois marijuana gross sales reached a document excessive of greater than $1.5 billion in 2022—and this previous December marked the strongest gross sales month thus far—officers introduced on Friday.

The Illinois Division of Monetary and Skilled Regulation (IDFPR) mentioned that “2022 set grownup use hashish gross sales information in all classes it tracks.”

That features a yearly adult-use hashish gross sales complete of $1,552,324,820, which is 12 % increased than the 2021 complete of $1,379,088,278 and 131 % increased than 2020, which noticed $669,084,410 in gross sales.

On a month-to-month foundation, December 2022 set a brand new document. Adults spent $143,899,826 on 3,446,978 marijuana merchandise that month. The earlier document occurred in December 2021, with $137,896,859 in gross sales from 3,180,944 hashish gadgets.

Illinois residents accounted for $95,634,565 in marijuana gross sales final month, in comparison with $42,363,394 from out-of-state guests.

By way of IDFPR.

“Once I signed the Hashish Regulation and Tax Act into regulation in 2019, we set out on an formidable aim: to create essentially the most equitable and economically affluent hashish trade within the nation,” Gov. J.B. Pritzker (D) mentioned in a press launch. “Our knowledge from 2022 reveals that we’re effectively on our means in direction of making that concept a actuality.”

The brand new figures don’t embrace medical hashish gross sales, that are tracked individually by a distinct company.

Officers additionally touted the truth that Illinois at the moment has 113 retail dispensaries working within the state, together with three social fairness licensees that have been accredited final 12 months after a protracted effort by the administration to begin fulfilling fairness objectives.

“Not solely did we break our earlier gross sales document by greater than 12 % with a complete of greater than $1.5 billion, we additionally noticed the primary of our social fairness grownup use hashish dispensaries open their doorways for enterprise—paving the way in which for a good stronger 2023,” Pritzker mentioned.

IDFPR Secretary Mario Treto mentioned that 2022 “marks the second straight 12 months that Illinois’ grownup use hashish trade has seen record-setting development, and we’re excited for what the long run holds for essentially the most equitable hashish trade within the nation.”

“We’re optimistic the trade will solely proceed to flourish in 2023, as we welcome extra dispensaries to Illinois,” he mentioned.

For the 2022 calendar 12 months, the state crossed the $1 billion mark in August—two months sooner than it took to succeed in that milestone in 2021.

Final 12 months, Pritzker individually touted the state’s marijuana gross sales and ensuing tax income for the 2022 Fiscal Yr. Illinois collected $445.3 million in tax {dollars} from $1.5 billion in hashish gross sales throughout that interval. That’s a 50 % enhance is hashish tax {dollars} in comparison with the prior fiscal 12 months.

However there’s nonetheless work to be achieved, officers concede. In September, state regulators launched a report that exposed a obtrusive lack of variety amongst enterprise house owners within the adult-use marijuana market. It additionally outlined a plan to start turning that round within the present fiscal 12 months, with the trade set to considerably broaden as almost 200 new social fairness companies come on-line.

The governor and different state officers have emphasised that they’re dedicated to making sure that parts of tax income from the marijuana market go towards neighborhood reinvestment, as prescribed below the state’s legalization regulation.

In June, Illinois officers introduced that the state was awarding $45 million in grants funded by marijuana tax {dollars} to help neighborhood reinvestment in areas “hardest hit by the failed battle on medication.”

That marked the second spherical of funding that’s been made out there by way of the state’s Restore, Reinvest, and Renew (R3) program, which was established below Illinois’s adult-use hashish legalization regulation.

In 2021, state officers additionally put $3.5 million in cannabis-generated funds towards efforts to scale back violence by way of road intervention applications.

Along with offering neighborhood reinvestment funding, the governor introduced in 2020 that his workplace had processed greater than 500,000 expungements and pardons for folks with low-level hashish convictions on their information.

Pritzker additionally signed laws final 12 months that may make it so courts can’t deny petitions to expunge or seal information primarily based on a optimistic drug take a look at for marijuana.

A state-funded initiative was additionally established to assist residents with marijuana convictions get authorized assist and different companies to have their information expunged.

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The put up Illinois Hits Marijuana Milestone With Document $1.5 Billion In Grownup-Use Gross sales In 2022, Knowledge Reveals appeared first on Marijuana Second.