Recreational Pot Sales Continue To Soar in State

By Benjamin Cox on April 6, 2020 at 9:29am

Illinois recreational sales continue to boom in the state despite the stay at home order. Preliminary numbers show statewide adult-use cannabis sales in March totaled $35.9 million, according to a news release yesterday from the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. Dispensaries across the state sold more than 812,000 items over the 31-day period. The March sales topped February’s total and fell short of the $39.2 million sold in January.

None of the figures include taxes collected, and they are not broken down before the implementation of the stay-at-home order. Governor J.B. Pritzker said in the order that the adult-use cannabis industry was deemed essential due to the necessity of treatment for medical cannabis patients and to fund social justice and equity goals that are a part of the adult use cannabis law.

Designated caregivers are allowed to pick up medical marijuana for patients, and dispensaries can sell marijuana to medical patients or caregivers on a public walkway or curb adjacent to the dispensary property during the pandemic. Dispensaries are not permitted to deliver medical cannabis to a home. The exemptions do not extend to adult-use sales, as they still must take place inside the limited access area of a dispensary.

Pritzker also recently signed an executive order extending the deadline for applications for cannabis infuser, craft grower, and transporter licenses to the Illinois Department of Agriculture from March 30th to April 30th. According to the news release, the department will award up to 40 infuser and craft grower licenses each, and an unlimited amount of transporter licenses by July 1st.