The breakout star of Illinois in a hazy economic landscape: recreational marijuana

Last year, Gov. JB Prizker passed bipartisan legislation legalizing marijuana for recreational use and sale in the state – the 11th in the nation to do so – with effect from January 1, 2020. When the pandemic struck, dispensaries were considered essential companies and were allowed to remain open during lockdown.

It is an injury to the state, which, like others around the United States, has had to re-examine its finances because of the pandemic. In the first six months of the year, the state generated about $ 52 million in tax revenue, blown by its initial estimate for the first half of 2020 of $ 28 million. About 35% of that tax revenue is returned to local governments, including communities that were negatively impacted by the criminalization of marijuana.

But in Schaumberg, Illinois, the opening of her first dispensary was met with enthusiasm, including from local officials attending the opening day.

Reopening Schaumberg, Illinois, Sunnyside’s location – a dispensary chain in nine states – a line slammed the door all Saturday afternoon as customers waited for orders placed online. The new system and other social distancing measures are in place in response to Covid-19. The Schaumberg location is the largest dispensary in Illinois and the largest chain in the nation, according to Cresco Labs, which owns Sunnyside.

The uptick in sales in Illinois is not limited to the pandemic, according to Jason Erkes, a spokesman for Sunnyside and Cresco Labs. But he said he thinks the pandemic is driving some people to buy more.

“You have opened more stores that offer greater access across the state,” Erkes told CNN. “You have more product coming on the market, so if people check, people can buy more, and you have the pandemic that just hit, causing a lot of symptoms of anxiety and depression and people are looking for cannabis as an alternative. So, it has really been a perfect storm for the sector. “

One customer, Joshua Simao, said that marijuana not only helps reduce his back and shoulder pain, but the fear he has felt during this uncertain time.

“Just when the pandemic hit, everyone started losing their jobs,” Simao said. “I was a victim of that, so I really think this has helped me deal with it.”

Smoking cannabis causes a degree of inflammation in the airways, similar to bronchitis, and daily smoking can damage the lungs over time, say doctors with the American Lung Association. An infection on top can lead to complications.

That concern does not seem to be the deepening of sales as enthusiasm.

“I think municipalities across the state are looking at stores like this and realizing that they have made an OK decision to allow a cannabis store in their municipality and the tax benefit is an isolated advantage,” Erkes said. “The residents are not unhappy. They are not attacking him. And they are getting a nice benefit to help with any problems they are having.”