Illinois officials have awarded the state’s first adult-use retailer licenses — 14 dispensaries received “same-site” licenses, meaning they will be allowed to open their existing medical cannabis stores to anyone 21+.
Illinois Awards First Adult-Use Dispensary Licenses
Detail of cannabis buds on clear glass jars isolated on white - medical marijuana dispensary concept
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Illinois officials have issued 14 “same-site” adult-use cannabis licenses and the locations will be the first to offer recreational sales beginning January 1, ABC 7 reports. The businesses are the first in the state to be licensed to sell recreational cannabis.
Three of the licenses were issued to operators in Chicago – MedMar, Dispensary 33, and Maribus of Chicago – while the rest were issued to current medical cannabis sellers in Buffalo Grove, Mundelein, Elmwood Park, Naperville, Joliet, Canton, Champaign, Effingham, Grandview, and Rockford.
The companies who received licenses are allowed to sell to non-medical patients from their current storefront and are permitted to open another adult-use-only dispensary at a second location. According to the report, officials plan to award 75 additional adult-use licenses to new, and social equity, applicants next year. In all, there are currently 55 medical cannabis dispensaries in Illinois.
In September, the state granted its first adult-use cultivation licenses to Cresco Labs, PharmaCann, Ascend Illinois, and Columbia Care. Cultivation applicants had to pay a $100,000 application fee and commit to participating in the social-equity program included in the law. The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation has also named so-called “responsible vendors” that will provide health and safety training to the state’s cannabis dispensary operators.
Adult-use sales are set to begin in Illinois on January 1 under a legalization bill signed earlier this year.
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