With the number of retail marijuana stores open still yet to break into double digits and marijuana users not rushing to make the switch from the illicit to the legal market, the state’s chief marijuana regulator said Thursday he is comfortable with the pace of store openings and the progress towards undermining the unregulated market.

The Cannabis Control Commission has green-lighted nine retail marijuana stores across the state and eight have opened their doors to customers. The first stores opened Nov. 20 and through Jan. 27 customers have spent about $28 million on marijuana products in Massachusetts, the CCC said.

But the Boston Globe reported on Sunday, citing data from Colorado-based cannabis market research firm BDS Analytics, that 76.3 percent of the marijuana sold in Massachusetts in 2019 is expected to be sold illegally – not from one of the licensed and regulated retail stores overseen by the CCC.

CCC Chairman Steven Hoffman said Thursday that regulators don’t expect to drastically reduce the illegal market right away and that he focuses more on what the legal market’s health will be in a few years.

“I think standing up an industry that is safe and accessible is the best defense against the illicit market,” he said. “I don’t have any expectation that it’s going to disappear overnight but I certainly have the expectation and I think we have the commitment to the state to do everything we can to see it significantly decrease over time.”

The chairman said he does not expect the CCC will alter its plans or the pace at which it considers and approves business licenses. Hoffman has previously said he expects four to eight new retail stores will open their doors each month.

With some stores having been open now for almost three months, Hoffman said he’s also comfortable with the access retailers have to banking services. Because marijuana remains wholly illegal at the federal level, many banks have balked at doing business with marijuana firms so as to not risk their federal protections.

Two Massachusetts banks – GFA Federal Credit Union based in Gardner and BayCoast Bank based in Swansea – have begun to work with marijuana businesses. A third bank, which Hoffman said has asked not to be identified publicly, is also serving marijuana businesses.

“I’m reasonably comfortable that we’re bringing banks in at a pace that is consistent with the pace at which we’re opening,” the chairman said. “The current licensees that are operational, I believe, are all banked … even though I would like the move the banking process along more quickly, obviously there is a limit to what I can do but I’m comfortable that we’re moving at a pretty good clip there.”

Hoffman said the CCC is in discussions with three additional banks about serving state-legal marijuana companies. He said the discussions “are not trying to talk them into anything, but answering their questions and helping assuage some concerns.”