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.