Illinois’ cannabis sales reached over $47.6 million in June, which now holds the record for the highest sales figures in the state, according to a Daily Herald report.

Dispensaries sold 994,545 items last month with customers spending $48 on average per sale before tax, the news outlet reported.

The Illinois Department of Revenue is expected to release tax figures later this month, but reported that May’s cannabis taxes and associated sales taxes generated $12.5 million in revenue, according to the Daily Herald.

Illinois has collected $52.7 million in cannabis tax revenue to date, the news outlet reported, which has surpassed budget estimates of $28 million.

Cannabis sales have topped $239 million since adult-use sales launched Jan. 1, according to the Daily Herald.

While April 20 is known internationally as a day to celebrate everything cannabis with parties, sales and other events, a lesser-known cannabis holiday is emerging as an opportunity to educate consumers about products beyond flower. 

This Friday, July 10, is known as 7/10 Day or OIL Day, and has become an industry holiday to honor cannabis concentrates, extracts and tinctures. (710, when flipped 180 degrees, spells OIL.) 7/10 or OIL Day does not have the awareness or huge number of sales of 4/20, but concentrates producers and sellers still prepare weeks in advance.

Jonathan Spadafora, a partner and the head of marketing and sales for Veritas, a Colorado-based wholesale cannabis producer, said though the concentrate market is not as sizable as that for flower, concentrate consumers are passionate about their intake method and appreciate OIL Day.

“The 7/10 holiday drives a tremendous amount of attention. It is not as big a holiday as 4/20, but I would argue the fans, the people who celebrate 7/10, are often more rabid,” Spadafora said. “4/20 is an easy thing for a lot of people to get involved with. 7/10 is more of a consumer-driven holiday for people who hash is a very big part of their lives. The [increase in] demand we see around 7/10 is significant.”

Cris Rivera, SVP of retail marketing and store development at Cresco Labs, a vertically integrated, multistate operator based in Chicago, said that sales of concentrates float around the third or fourth highest selling product type in most states. Rivera spoke about using 7/10 Day to both appeal to diehard concentrate connoisseurs and garner the interest of potential new consumers.

“The focus really is on, today, that current user [of concentrate] and trying to see if we can get people who haven’t yet tried concentrates but seem to be heavy cannabis users to consider adding concentrates,” Rivera said.

The deals offered by Sunnyside, Cresco’s dispensary brand, reflect these efforts. In Pennsylvania and New York, Sunnyside is offering large “basket” deals, encouraging the purchase of multiple and more expensive products. These deals are structured as $20 off the purchase of two concentrates or live resin cartridges, and $50 off the purchase of four. But, in the newer adult-use market of Illinois, which has a much less robust concentrate market and less experienced consumers, the deals are aimed toward affordability and easier to use products, namely live resin cartridges. Illinois stores will see a flat $5 discount for all concentrates and live resin carts, with the goal of “pushing for trial,” or encouraging consumers to try the products, Rivera says. 

Though this Friday is unlikely to see sales on par with a 4/20 celebration, producers and retailers alike prepare for weeks in advance to ensure they have the necessary supplies. Veritas provides shake and frozen product for concentrate production, as well as having its sister company, Olio, produce original concentrate products.

Veritas increases its production every year in preparation for the holiday, but Spadafora says demand already outstrips supply in Colorado often. 

“The number of sample inquiries that come in is probably four or five [times the norm] in the two or three weeks leading up to 7/10, but it is really hard to put a number on it because we do sell out every week,” he said.

Sunnyside is offering its 7/10 discounts from July 7 to July 12, as opposed to the one day it offered them last year.

Facing a shortage of funding and unforeseen circumstances stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic, two groups that hoped to place adult-use cannabis legalization initiatives on Arkansas’ 2020 ballot have refocused their efforts on the 2022 election.

Arkansans for Cannabis Reform and Arkansas True Grass had to gather nearly 90,000 signatures by July 3 to get their proposed constitutional amendments before voters this fall, but the feat proved too much once the coronavirus crisis descended on the U.S. this past spring.

“Without enough funding and with the COVID, it just went south real quick,” Arkansans for Cannabis Reform Executive Director Melissa Fults told Cannabis Business Times and Cannabis Dispensary, adding that the group managed to collect roughly 35,000 signatures before the deadline.

Arkansans for Cannabis Reform had been relying on mail-in petitions after a judge ruled in May that ballot initiative campaigns could gather signatures remotely, but the state’s attorney general filed an appeal, and an appeals court placed a stay on the original ruling until the case is heard.

“Once they put out that stay, we were done,” Fults said. “There was no option for us.”

RELATED: Arkansans for Cannabis Reform Turns to Mail-In Petitions to Qualify Adult-Use Cannabis Legalization Initiative for 2020 Ballot: Legalization Watch

The campaign’s proposed constitutional amendment would have allowed a minimum of 30 adult-use cannabis dispensaries per congressional district, as well as a minimum of one cultivation center for every 250,000 people, which equates to about 12 growers based on the state’s current population. Cultivators would have been able to grow a minimum of 200 mature plants and 200 seedlings, and regulators would have been authorized to license more businesses as needed, based on demand.

The measure would have also legalized home grow, allowing adults to cultivate up to six mature plants and six seedlings.

After the costs associated with operating the program were covered, the measure would have directed the remaining tax revenue generated from adult-use cannabis sales to support pre-K and afterschool programs, as well as the University of Arkansas’ medical school.

Now, the campaign is evaluating where to go from here. When the legislature reconvenes in January, Arkansans for Cannabis Reform plans to lobby for a decriminalization law. In addition, Fults said another group, made up of attorneys and other stakeholders, has invited her to join them in drafting a new legalization measure for the 2022 ballot.

“If they come up with something that everyone can live with and that is fair to both consumers and the businesses, we’ll get on board and we’ll support it and we’ll push the ballot initiative,” she said. “If not, then we won’t. I’m not going to support a monopoly or one that has no chance of passing.”

Arkansas True Grass has also shifted its efforts to 2022, and has already collected a few hundred signatures to place its proposed constitutional amendment before voters in that election.

“Our amendment is still the same as it was before and it’s very lenient—for the people, by the people,” campaign organizer Briana Boling said.

The measure would allow adults 21 and older to grow up to 12 plants of any stage at home, and adults who have lived in Arkansas for a minimum of three years can apply for business licenses, which would be issued to an unlimited number of cultivation operations and dispensaries. Cultivation licenses would cost no more than $250 annually under the measure, and dispensary licenses would cost no more than $500.

Arkansas True Grass is continuing to collect in-person signatures while awaiting the court’s decision on whether they can resume collecting signatures remotely, but Boling said many are wary of being approached in public during the ongoing pandemic, and the cancellation of large events and public gatherings has made signature gathering more challenging in recent months.

Still, Boling is confident that her group can get its legalization measure in front of voters in 2022, even without mail-in petitions.

“Support is here,” she said. “The more people that hear about it, the more volunteers we get. Our Facebook group has 17,000 members, and in January, it only had 12,000 members, so we’re steadily increasing in numbers. I’ve been out on the street asking people to sign the petition, and ‘yes’ is way more common than ‘no.’"