ILLINOIS: Patients lined up at the door on the first day of sales of medical marijuana in Illinois.
Rico was one of 200 people to get a prescription filled at The Clinic Mundelein, one of nine medical marijuana dispensaries in the state. The 20-year Army veteran suffers from severe back pain.
“This is just like I went to the doctor to get my medication,” Rico said. “For year I’ve been taking Percocet and they’ve been giving me Dilaudid, and that just makes it to where I can’t function.”
Only patients with state-issued ID cards who are registered at a dispensary can purchase medical marijuana. The state has issued only about 3,300 IDs. Bob Morgan helped develop the program.
“We need more patients. We have a lot of patients who say they’re interested who are choosing not to participate. We want to make sure those who are eligible and want to participate can,” Morgan said.
Mailing Marijuana: Officials Report Spike In Pot-Laden Packages
ILLINOIS: Since recreational use of the marijuana became legal in several states, authorities report a major jump in the number of pot-filled packages being sent through the mail.
Mailing marijuana is a federal crime – even if it originates from a state where the drug is legal. Marijuana by mail has nothing to do with Illinois medical marijuana, which started Monday.
This is the story of illegal marijuana delivered to the doorstep, and experts said most of the marijuana stashed inside mail goes undetected.
The U.S. Postal service handles more than 155 billion pieces of mail a year and more than a billion of that in Chicago. Forty thousand pounds of pot were seized nationwide from the mail last year.
Medical Marijuana In Illinois May Start Selling Next Week
ILLINOIS: FOX 32 has learned that Illinois‘ first legal shipments of medical marijuana could depart from grow houses as soon as Friday.
The man in charge of the state’s program told FOX 32 News that the first legal retail sales by dispensaries could come early next week, perhaps Monday. But a woman who worked tirelessly for years to legalize medical marijuana in Illinois is turning her back on the program.
Julie Falco has painful, incurable multiple sclerosis. Back when she could still walk, she was well known in the State Capitol as a tireless proponent of medical marijuana. But now with the program at the tipping point, she says she won’t be part of it.
“Still feel like a criminal because I’m getting fingerprinted. Even though I use a wheelchair. I’m on a walker. I can barely move during the day,” Falco said.
Legal Marijuana Stirs Hope In Illinois Town
ILLINOIS: A skunky aroma fills the room in which hundreds of lush marijuana plants grow, some nearly ready for harvest.
Grower Ashley Thompson, a former high school agriculture teacher in this rural part of southeastern Illinois, takes the scent of weed home with her.
She doesn’t mind. It’s the fragrance of money and jobs.
“My family says I smell,” said Thompson, who quit the classroom to work for Ataraxia, one of a handful of cultivation centers in Illinois, which is one of 23 states with medical marijuana. “I can’t tell though.”
The Associated Press recently gained an exclusive look at Illinois’ first legal marijuana crop, and the new farmland ritual beginning amid surrounding cornfields in the historic town of Albion: the harvest of medical marijuana that will soon be sold in dispensaries around the state.
Oak Park, IL Votes Down Medical Marijuana Tax
ILLINOIS: Oak Park won’t have its own tax on medical marijuana if a dispensary planned for Lake Street opens up later this year.
The Oak Park Village Board unanimously voted against a tax on the drug during its Monday meeting, with trustees saying they didn’t want to add another burden to ill people who are prescribed marijuana.
Trustees unanimously voted 6-0 against the proposed 6 percent tax, which would only have applied to the soon-to-open Seven Point dispensary planned for 1140 Lake St. Trustee Colette Lueck was absent.
Costs Adding Up For Illinois Medical Marijuana Entrepreneurs
ILLINOIS: In the world of medical marijuana entrepreneurs in Illinois, there’s plenty of green behind the grass.
Hundreds of would-be medical marijuana growers and sellers have put millions of dollars on the line hoping for coveted state permits that were supposed to issued by former Gov. Pat Quinn by the end of last year.
To snag those valuable permits, the entrepreneurs hired consultants, lawyers and lobbyists.
They’re already paying rent, in some cases, or have money tied up in options to buy property.
And now, they wait. And with millions of dollars on the line, waiting can get expensive.
Blue Line Protection Group Hosts Free Security And Compliance Seminar For Illinois Medical Marijuana Industry
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Medical Marijuana ID Card Applications Top 2,000
ILLINOIS: More than 2,000 people registered for Illinois medical marijuana identification cards in the first three days of applications, dwarfing the number the program’s administrators had envisioned, the state announced Friday.
Authorities began taking electronic applications Tuesday from patients whose last names start with letters A through L, with those people able to register through Oct. 31. Officials had expected just a few hundred applications in the opening days, the Illinois Department of Public Health said without specifying the number of applicants.
“This is a promising sign that the program is on track to fulfill its key purpose — alleviating the pain and suffering for thousands of Illinoisans,” said Bob Morgan, the chief of the state’s medical cannabis pilot program.
Others can apply in November and December, and any patients and caregivers can apply starting next year. Patients must have a written certification from a doctor and get a background check, then pay $100 a year to apply for a medical marijuana card. Disabled people and veterans will pay $50 annually.
Illinois Agencies Propose Rules for Medical Marijuana Dispensaries
ILLINOIS: Three state agencies have released proposed regulations for Illinois‘ pilot medical marijuana program.
The departments of Revenue, Agriculture and Financial and Professional Regulation posted draft rules online Friday to address how dispensaries and cultivation centers will be regulated and taxed.
Public comments will be taken until Feb. 27.
The proposed rules include provisions for how cultivation centers must package and label the marijuana.
They also say that 21 of the 60 dispensaries required under the law would be outside of the Chicago metropolitan area.
Illinois Hospice Groups See benefits Of Medical Marijuana
ILLINOIS: Illinois is at least two months away from medical marijuana, but the prospect of using an illicit drug to treat symptoms caused by terminal illnesses is getting the attention of hospice groups.
Fourteen states have lifted bans on marijuana for patients with qualifying medical conditions, and advocates say the drug can ease pain, nausea, appetite loss and restlessness.
That’s what has places such as Hospice of Kankakee Valley open to the state’s new pot law — which will give patients affected by a limited number of illnesses access to high-grade marijuana without fear of arrest.
“There’s certainly proven medical advantages, there are certainly symptom-control advantages,” said Connie Lemon, director of nursing at Kankakee Valley. “The problem is access and legality and acceptance by the medical community.”