‘Explosive Growth’ Year for Illinois Weed Market, Report
Illinois regulators have issued a new comprehensive report on the state’s burgeoning cannabis market. The report notes that the Illinois cannabis industry had “explosive growth” during the last fiscal year, concluding with June 2024. Licensed retailers sold over $2 billion worth of legal products for the fiscal year 2024, while a record number of operators joined cannabis retail in the same period.
Illinois authorities say that the year saw the biggest expansion of cannabis so far. Eighty-two new cannabis stores opened in Illinois in the period between June 2023 and June 2024, many of which being social equity businesses.
“This growth has allowed for the creation of new jobs, increased access to cannabis for consumers, and shows the State’s commitment to social equity in its cannabis programs,” notes the 144-page 2024 Annual Cannabis Report, prepared by the Cannabis Regulation Oversight Office.
The report gives an overview of the agency accomplishments for the fiscal year 2024, including the release of Illinois’s 100th social equity retail license. It mentions the activation of curbside pick-up rules for MMJ patients, and the issuance of the first set of comprehensive rules for the licensed industry.
Beyond work in their home state, Illinois officials are also assisting regulators in other states, such as Rhode Island and Ohio, readers can learn from the report.
Another section of the report reflects on future goals, including work to expand access to cannabis for Illinois medical patients. “Currently, medical patients are limited to 55 dispensaries awarded in 2015 and do not have access at their medical cannabis tax rate to the over 150 adult use dispensaries that have since opened the doors,” the report authors wrote.
Cannabis insiders in Illinois agree that this represents a classic example of “structural imbalance” which regulators need to prioritize and fix during the next year. In particular, opening the medical segment of the Illinois cannabis market to more social equity applicants who had not stood a chance in the past.
82 Retailers Joined Illinois Cannabis Market in the Last Year
There are currently more than 220 operational cannabis dispensaries on the Illinois market. Eighty-two of those operators entered business between June 2023 and June 2024.
Regulators boasted in the recent annual report that nearly half of the state’s dispensaries are now owned by “social equity” cannabis business owners. That includes owners who come from poor areas or who have been impacted by old laws and overpolicing marijuana in the past.
In the view of social equity license owners, the state still favors existing big businesses, keeping small operators out. A separate state disparity report revealed social equity businesses aggregated merely 12% of statewide revenues in the past year, which says that more work indeed has to be done to keep the market fair and balanced.
Social equity businesses are typically small, where the owner might have a maximum of two-three shops at the most. In contrast, big players may run a dozen of locations and they’re usually multi-state operators who can easily get any licensing or permission for larger grow spaces. In fact, large cannabis companies in Illinois by law have up to 15 times more grow space than craft cannabis farmers.
“The structural imbalances have to be addressed,” said Peter Contos deputy director of the Cannabis Equility Illinois Coalition, the Union-Bulletin reported.
The market is “far from where we need to be, and we have a responsibility to get this back on the right track,” Contos said.
How Big is the Cannabis Market in Illinois?
Illinois is a medium cannabis market. The biggest markets such as California, Oklahoma or Colorado all have five times more dispensaries than a market size such as Illinois.
For 2024, Illinois passed $1 billion in cannabis retail in the early part of the summer. Of that number, adult-use products sales generated $850 million and nearly $150 are in medical products. This does make 2024 the most successful year in terms of sales on the Illinois cannabis markets.
“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,” said a recent statement from Governor JB Pritzker.
How High Are Cannabis Prices in Illinois?
Officials brag that business is good, but Illinois legal dispensaries are in fact selling some of the more expensive weed around. As of September 2024, the average item price in Illinois was $29.22, according to data from Headset. Which puts prices of Illinois cannabis on the higher end, compared to most other legal markets.
A gram of flower costs $14.36 on average, while the average price of edible products is $13.97. A gram of concentrate is worth $34.12 in retail, according to the September prices.
Flower is by far the most popular product on the Illinois cannabis market, followed by edibles and pre-rolls. On the fourth and fifth places are vape pens and concentrates.
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Stephen Andrews
