After selling more than $1 billion worth of cannabis products last year, dispensaries in Illinois got off to a blazing start in 2021 by taking in more than $121 million in January.
According to new data from the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR), which oversees dispensary licensing, adult-use cannabis dispensaries sold a record $88.8 million worth of cannabis during the first 31 days of the new year.
A total of 1,898,064 items were sold at adult-use dispensaries, the IDFPR said.
To put those figures into perspective, last month’s total was more than double the $39.2 million sold in January 2020, when legal adult-use cannabis sales kicked off in Illinois. That month, consumers snatched up fewer than 1 million items (972,045).
It’s worth noting that the previous monthly adult-use sales record came in December 2020, when dispensaries sold $86.8 million worth of cannabis.
Diving deeper into last month’s data, the bulk of sales came via in-state residents who spent more than $63.7 million on recreational cannabis. Nevertheless, more than $25 million worth of cannabis was sold to out-of-state consumers who crossed the border.
As of January 22, a total of 84 dispensaries were licensed to sell adult-use cannabis.
Meanwhile, Illinois medical marijuana stores sold $32.6 million worth of cannabis last month, including $15.3 million in flower and $17.2 million in concentrates and infused products.