Illinois Cannabis Sales Approach $2 Billion, As Newer Markets Drive Growth
January 16, 2024States across the U.S.—including new markets like Maryland and Connecticut and more mature ones like Illinois—reported record cannabis sales in December, capping a year that for many has seen the legal cannabis market bloom at retail. In addition to those monthly records, reports from New Mexico, Arkansas, and Maine all showed strong growth for retail cannabis.
In Illinois, where recreational sales began in 2020, the state’s Department of Revenue reported that the 2023 total reached just under $2 billion in sales, with more than 75% of those sales being recreational. For the year, cannabis sales brought in $417.6 million in tax revenue for the state. In December, Illinois set a new record for adult-use sales, with the total coming in at $153.9 million, plus another nearly $28 million in medical sales, bringing the grand total to just under $182 million for the month.
Currently, the state has 177 adult-use dispensaries with 188 more in the process of finalizing their licenses. Those existing 177 stores sold over 42 million individual products in 2023, including over 4 million in December alone. Illinois is the home base to multiple vertically integrated multi-state players, including Green Thumb, Cresco, and PharmaCann.
Maryland likewise reached record monthly sales in December at $97 million across both adult-use and medicinal. That brought its full-year tally to $788 million for the year, including about $330 million in adult-use sales, which only began midway through the year. Multi-state operators Curaleaf, Green Thumb Industries, and Ascend Wellness are all on the move in Maryland.
Connecticut celebrated the first year of legalization with a sales record of its own. In December, medical and recreational sales combined to total over $27 million, the most successful month of the year according to the Connecticut Department of Consumer Protection. In all, Connecticut cannabis retailers brought in $274 million in 2023—nearly twice the revenue seen in neighboring New York. Overall, 52% of sales in Connecticut’s first year of legalization were for flower, with vapes at 29% and edibles trailing at 11%. The state’s recreational market developed quickly over the year and, by May, adult-use sales topped medical sales.
Like Connecticut, New Mexico also set a new record for sales in December 2023, reaching $50.4 million, with roughly $37.5 million coming from adult-use. Since coming online, New Mexico’s adult-use market has topped $600 million in sales, with the combined adult-use and medical markets reaching nearly $1 billion in lifetime sales, including more than $550 million in 2023.
In Maine, 2023 sales reached $217 million, according to Maine Office of Cannabis Policy, a substantial jump over 2022’s total of $159 million. Since adult-use sales began in late 2020, the Maine cannabis market has totaled roughly $462 million with 138 retailers currently operating across the state. An additional 76 stores are pending approval. Unlike many of the other states reporting 2023 sales data, Maine’s market peaked in summer, with July, August, and September each bringing in over $20 million in sales. For December, Maine’s cannabis sales were just behind that peak at $19.3 million.
Finally, Arkansas, a medical-only market, also set new sales records for 2023, at $283 million. December was a record-setting month, too, with sales peaking at $25.6 million. The state, which has 38 medical dispensaries, saw the number of medical cannabis patients rise, too, with nearly 100,000 patients at the end of the year, a rise of nearly 10% since the start of the year.—Shane English
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