CHICAGO – The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation announced on Jan 6th, that 2022 set adult use cannabis sales records in all categories it tracks. This includes number of items sold, sales totals to Illinois and out-of-state residents, and sales total by month. For the year, Illinois adult use cannabis dispensaries sold $1,552,324,820.37 worth of product, an increase of more than 12% from 2021 and 131% from 2020, the first year cannabis sales were first legally allowed in Illinois. There are currently 113 adult use cannabis dispensaries in Illinois, including the first three social equity dispensaries that opened their doors in 2022. These figures do not include taxes collected, which are reported by the Illinois Department of Revenue.

“When I signed the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act into law in 2019, we set out on an ambitious goal: to create the most equitable and economically prosperous cannabis industry in the nation. Our data from 2022 shows that we are well on our way towards making that idea a reality,” said Governor JB Pritzker. “Not only did we break our previous sales record by more than 12% with a total of more than $1.5 billion, we also saw the first of our social equity adult use cannabis dispensaries open their doors for business—paving the way for an even stronger 2023.”

“This marks the second straight year that Illinois’ adult use cannabis industry has seen record-setting growth, and we are excited for what the future holds for the most equitable cannabis industry in the country,” said Mario Treto, Jr., Secretary of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. “We are optimistic the industry will only continue to flourish in 2023, as we welcome more dispensaries to Illinois.”

Statistics compiled by IDFPR show 2021’s sales totals were all exceeded in November 2022. In total, 36,435,129 items were sold in Illinois adult use cannabis dispensaries in 2022, an increase of 20% from 2021. In addition, Illinois resident sales totaled $1,073,132,436.48 (an increase of almost 14% from 2021), while sales to out-of-state residents totaled $479,192,383.91 (an increase of almost 10% from 2021). IDFPR’s complete adult use cannabis monthly sales tracker may be found online here.

In addition to three social equity adult use cannabis dispensaries that opened their doors in 2022, 189 other conditional licensees are in the process of receiving their full dispensary license from IDFPR. Dispensaries may begin adult use cannabis sales once they receive their full license from IDFPR. The Department also announced in December 2022 that applications for the next round of cannabis dispensary licenses will be accepted starting January 30, 2023. Additional information for prospective applicants (including a mock application, proposed timeline, and social equity criteria applicants will need to meet to receive a license) may be found on IDFPR’s Adult Use Cannabis Program webpage under the “Information for social Equity Criteria Lottery” section.