Illinois is the most recent state to legalize recreational cannabis and the 2nd state to do it legislatively. Medical cannabis has been permitted since 2013 (with the right to possess up to 30 grams, but no right to grow the plant at home, medical patients in particular: right to grow up to 5 plants and possess 2.5 ounces). Therefore, Illinois currently represents one of the few states that permit adult & medical use of cannabis at the same time.
When recreational cannabis became legalized in Illinois on the 1st of January 2020, a $2,5 billion in annual sales was predicted. So far, Illinois has accumulated $147.2 billion during the first 4 months and has been growing strong despite the COVID pandemic and economic strains. This step entailed the expansion of the existing medical marijuana dispensaries to reach a maximum of 185 including a total of 500 cannabis licenses across the state of Illinois. Obtaining the new cannabis license has become a very attractive goal for many and since the applications for these new licenses are getting more accepted than before- even if this is only happening in a slow pace- this in the long run is supposed to significantly contribute to increasing the sales in a highly lucrative manner. If Illinois would have not went with the option to have a set number on licenses and would of instead made the amount of licenses unlimited, then this would of led to the Illinois cannabis market being on its own to survive off of its own decisions, possibly making it more vulnerable.
However, what ended up happening the first few months of 2020 was that the sales slightly went down due to the supply shortage. This was expected to some extent even by the Marijuana Policy Project, as Chris Lindsey, the director of government relations stated, but this was also done intentionally with the purpose to “test the waters”, to basically create a balance of supply and demand per the well-known Illinois “pot czar ” Toi Hutchinson, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s senior adviser on cannabis. Despite the supply shortage bringing a lot of frustration on both the cannabis business owner and the consumer, it has its advantages of having the time to prepare expanding one’s dispensary/cultivation center and of giving the medical patients a sense of security that their supply will remain prioritized before recreational supply.
When looking at how the cannabis market first legalized recreational cannabis in Washington and Oregon for example, a lot went wrong there because they had too much supply. Businesses became too overwhelmed. This ultimately caused a lot of harm, brought a lot of financial losses to its cannabis market industry, making it unsustainable and Illinois wanted to avoid that happening to their state.
The question is for how long this lack of supply will last and to not loose track of steering it to how it needs to be regulated. There is the idea of making “interstate commerce” the solution to the supply shortage issue, as currently experienced in Illinois’s cannabis market. However, this would still require a specific legal framework that needs to allow that to happen. And with so many different states across the US not being “on the same boat” in terms of cannabis and with each state having their own laws, attitudes and preferences, this makes it a bit difficult.
Besides the supply shortage issue remaining longer than needed, there is still another decisive factor involved that is still a challenge, namely the limited access to the cannabis market by minority groups in Illinois who are also wanting to open their own dispensary or get their cannabis license. It is planned to counteract this by using the cannabis sales revenue towards creating and supporting more opportunities for minority groups. Cresco Labs, a marijuana multistate operator just now appointed Michele Roberts,
the first person of color on their board of directors. A necessary step to a fair and equal cannabis market that faces social and financial challenges just like other types of industry sectors.
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