CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The state said the legal sales of marijuana products in Illinois has gone over the one billion dollar mark in total for 2020.
The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation announced there was a total of more than $669-million in recreational use marijuana sales in 2020. That, combined with medical marijuana sales numbers through November of $331-million, puts sales over one billion dollars total -- even before the December medical pot sales numbers are released.
"They've said all along that Illinois' expected to be between a $2-and-$4 billion market at maturity," Jason Erkes, chief communications officer for Cresco Labs, told Fox Chicago. "No one thought that a billion would be the first year. So it definitely exceeded people's expectations."
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Since state pandemic lockdowns began, legal recreational marijuana-use sales have gone from about $36 million in March to nearly $87-million in December.
In all of 2020, over 14-million recreational marijuana items were sold. Nearly $500-million in sales came from in-state residents, while more than $172-million in sales came from out-of-state residents.