Connecticut
Illinois cannabis sales soar, while Connecticut’s market falters
The midwestern cannabis market of Illinois passed $1 billion in sales just halfway through the calendar year, while Connecticut officials have watched their fledgling industry struggle with months of declining sales.
Illinois marijuana sales have steadily posted year-over-year increases, Gov. JB Pritzker announced in a press release, with the Land of Lincoln reaching the $1 billion sales mark almost two weeks earlier this year than it did in 2023. This year’s sales breakdown includes more than $850 million in adult-use cannabis sales and nearly $150 million in medical sales.
The steady uptick is also reflected in the 2024 fiscal year, which tallied more than $2 billion in legal cannabis sales, up from $1.9 billion in the 2023 fiscal year.
In terms of products purchased, cannabis flower was easily the top category with 49% of purchases, followed by vape cartridges at 32% and edibles with 22%.
“Illinois has the most equitable cannabis industry in the country, and it’s growing and thriving,” Pritzker said in the release. “The increase in total adult-use cannabis sales, combined with the policies my administration is implementing to support communities ravaged by the War on Drugs, highlights how this emerging industry is helping us set a national standard in equity and economic justice. Growing sales in 2024 means cannabis tax revenue will continue to play a major role in righting decades of wrongs in the state’s criminal justice system.”
Connecticut, however, has seen a very different story with its nascent recreational marijuana market, which launched in January 2023.
The New England state’s legal cannabis sales hit a peak in December 2023, but has been declining since, CT Insider reported. The state reported $23.9 million in sales in June compared to $24.7 million in May sales.
The breakdown includes adult-use sales of just $16.3 million in June, down from $16.5 million in May, and medical marijuana sales at $7.6 million in June, down from $8.2 million in May.
Connecticut’s peak of cannabis sales thus far was $27.5 million back in December, CT Insider reported.
The trend continues a multimonth slide in Connecticut; sales were already on a downward trend in the opening months of 2024, with $24.9 million in January sales and then $23.6 million the month after that.
Connecticut
Jane’s Addiction cancels Connecticut show after on-stage fight
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Connecticut
Jane’s Addiction cancels Connecticut concert after band members get into fight on Boston stage
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Connecticut
Data check: Connecticut youth concussions
A troubling concussion seen by millions on a nationally televised NFL game Thursday night had people once again visiting the issue of concussions in youth sports.
We’re talking about a play during Thursday Night Football where the Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa suffered a scary concussion.
He has had a long history with this injury.
In Connecticut, concussions have been top of mind for some time, and so there’s robust state data on the subject.
The good news: reports of concussions in students grades 6 to 12 dropped by roughly half over the past decade, totaling just over 3,000 statewide in the last recorded school year.
For more on this issue, check out our story above.
If you want to deep dive further on the topic, the state has data going back well over a decade. Click here for more information.
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