WASHINGTON (dpa-AFX) - Illinois generated $3.2 million in recreational marijuana sales on Wednesday, January 1, the first day of legal adult-use marijuana sales in the state, according to reports quoting state officials.
Illinois' first-day sales performance was comparable to Oregon, which too recorded $3.2 million in sales on its first day of legal recreational marijuana sales.
37 dispensaries in Illinois started selling recreational marijuana on Wednesday, recording 77,128 transactions that tallied sales of $3.176 million, according to reports quoting the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation or IDFPR. The average purchase was about $200.
'As we start a new decade, Illinois has achieved a monumental milestone - launching the legalization of cannabis in a way that includes communities left behind for far too long, creates good jobs and expunges thousands of records for those who have lost out on opportunities and ends prohibition,' Toi Hutchinson, Senior Advisor to the Governor for Cannabis Control, said in a statement.
Michigan is the only other Midwestern state that allows recreational marijuana. On December 1, 2019, Michigan's first day of legal adult-use sales, more than 2,200 people in Michigan spent almost $221,000 to buy marijuana flower, marijuana-infused edibles and concentrates from four licensed retailers in the state.
In June 2019, Illinois officially became the eleventh U.S. state to legalize marijuana for adult use after Governor J.B. Pritzker, who advocated for legalization in his 2018 campaign, signed the marijuana legalization bill into law.
Under the new law, Illinois residents can buy 30 grams of cannabis flower, 5 grams of cannabis concentrate and up to 500 milligrams of THC contained in a cannabis-infused product. Non-Illinois residents are allowed to buy only half those amounts and cannot transport it across state lines.
The Illinois Department of Revenue projects that the marijuana industry will generate over $57 million in tax revenue and licensing fees in fiscal 2020, and $140.5 million in tax revenue alone, in fiscal 2021.
Earlier this week, Governor Pritzker granted 11,017 pardons for individuals with low-level marijuana convictions. The misdemeanor expungements involve people in 92 counties in Illinois.
The bipartisan Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act provides multiple avenues to expunge convictions and arrest records for minor cannabis offenses. Statewide, more than 700,000 records will be eligible for relief because of the law.
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