Illinois set new annual record in 2023, with $1.6 billion in recreational marijuana sales
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Illinois set another new record for marijuana sales in 2023, the fourth year of the legal recreational pot business in the state.
Total recreational marijuana sales in Illinois last year totaled more than $1.6 billion, the third year in a row of growth since the state legalized recreational pot in 2020. The previous record was more than $1.5 billion in sales in 2022.
Recreational marijuana sales have gone up every year since it became legal in Illinois in 2020. The first year saw nearly $670 million in sales, and that number more than doubled in 2021 to nearly $1.4 billion.
The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation said new records also were set last year for recreational pot sales to Illinois residents, at more than $1.2 billion, and the total number of items sold, at more than 42 million – both figures are up about 15% from 2022.
December also saw a new monthly record for recreational marijuana sales, with nearly $154 million sold, topping the previous monthly record set in December 2022 by nearly 7%.
"The legalization of adult use cannabis was the start of uplifting the communities most impacted by the failed war on drugs," said Lt. Governor Juliana Stratton. "The benefits from these sales will be used to continue investing in our economic growth in historically disinvested populations."
The growth in recreational pot sales does not include medical marijuana sales, which are tracked separately since medical marijuana was legalized in Illinois in late 2015. Medical marijuana sales largely continued to grow in the first year after recreational pot was legalized in Illinois, but have dropped off slightly since.