Record recreational pot sales for May

New highs for both in-state buys, cannabis tourism top mark set in first month by $5M

Customers line up outside a cannabis dispensary in Wrigleyville in Chicago. (One Illinois/Ted Cox)

By Ted Cox

The state set a new record for recreational marijuana sales in May, driven by new highs for both in-state buyers and cannabis tourists.

According to figures released Thursday by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, state-licensed dispensaries did $44.3 million in sales of adult-use cannabis in May, easily topping the record set in January in the first month of legalized marijuana, when it sold $39.2 million. Since then, sales have risen back up every month, from $34.8 million in February to $35.9 million in March and $37.3 million in April.

In-state users bought $34.1 million, topping the previous record set in January with $30.6 million, and so-called cannabis tourists from out of state bought $10.2 million, a new high over the $9.2 million purchased in February.

So it’s hardly mind-blowing that the state also set a new high for items sold, approaching 1 million at 989,179, topping the 972,045 sold in January.

The Illinois Department of Revenue releases tax-revenue data for adult-use cannabis separately, but the May figures should obviously top the $10.4 million the state pocketed from recreational marijuana in January, with $7.3 million of that in specific taxes on cannabis and the remaining $3.1 million in the everyday sales tax. Illinois has blown past the original estimate of $28 million in pot taxes alone in the first six months, with another month to go.