Article from St. Louis Public Radio (stlpublicradio.org)
“COLLINSVILLE — Illinois Supply and Provisions recorded $5 million in sales of recreational marijuana in the first month of the year, city officials announced Tuesday.
The preliminary figures come after a strong month of sales across the whole state. Illinois sold nearly $40 million of legal marijuana in January alone.
The lone dispensary in the Metro East accounted for 13.6% of all recreational cannabis sales in Illinois. There are 48 approved recreational dispensaries in the state.
“I’m not necessarily in tune with recreational marijuana, but the tax dollars coming into the community make it all worthwhile,” said Collinsville Mayor John Miller.
At the local level, Collinsville brought in $125,000 in sales tax from the dispensary in January. The city currently taxes marijuana sales at 2.25%, but that will jump to 5.25% in July.
In 2020, the city expects to bring in between $1.5 million and $2 million in sales from the dispensary, more than initial conservative projections. That money goes to capital projects.
“It’s a win-win for the city and a win-win for our citizens,” Miller said. “It relaxes that burden of residential taxes and other taxes going to those capital project funds.”
Illinois Supply and Provisions saw major lines of people eager to buy legal marijuana throughout January.
Buyers waited in line an average of 90 to 120 minutes most days, said Kathleen Olivastro, Illinois Supply and Provisions regional director. She said that basically 100% of people in those lines ended up buying something at the dispensary.
“How many chances do you get that as a business?” she said.
The dispensary served so many people by rotating cannabis products based on what it had a healthy supply of…”
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