Illinois’ budding legal cannabis industry could grow more than one million pounds of weed by 2025 to meet demand, a new report says.
But the report’s lead author acknowledges the state will have to permit legal growers to vastly scale up production to reach that level, which is more than 14 times the amount Illinois grows now.
The study, published Tuesday by the independent cannabis research firm New Frontier Data, estimates that nearly 30 million pounds of pot will be produced in the United States this year. By 2025, the country is expected to cultivate more than 34 million pounds, with Illinois emerging as the sixth-largest overall cannabis producer.
New Frontier estimates that Illinois will cultivate 1,019,282 pounds of legal pot that year, and another 41,000 pounds will be grown illegally. The report comes just over a month before Illinois will legalize weed for recreational use, vastly expanding the state’s pot market by opening up sales to anyone over the age of 21.
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