Customers bought nearly $40 million in recreational marijuana during the first month of sales in Illinois

Customers spent more than $39.2 million on recreational marijuana during the first month of legal weed sales in Illinois, and about a quarter of that came from out-of-state residents.

Sales to Illinois residents totaled more than $30.6 million, according to numbers from the state’s Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. Out-of-state residents spent more than $8.6 million. Tax revenues have not been released.

On Jan. 1, Illinois became the second state in the Midwest to launch recreational marijuana sales, after Michigan. None of the states that border Illinois sell it, said Bethany Gomez, managing director of cannabis research firm Brightfield Group.

“Illinois has a really strong advantage, being in the middle of prohibition territory,” she said.

Dispensaries around the state are dealing with product shortages that keep many customers from buying what they want the most: flower, the popular dried marijuana buds that can be smoked.

The shortage, which is expected to last months, shut down recreational sales at some dispensaries in early January. Buying limits remain in place at many shops, and others have limited recreational sales to two or three days a week. [Read more at Chicago Tribune]