Illinois Governor JB Pritzker announced on Friday that the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) has issued 149 conditional state licenses for adult-use cannabis retailers to applicants selected in three lotteries held earlier this summer. All of the selected businesses qualify as social equity applicants under the state’s Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act, the 2019 bill that legalized recreational pot for adults statewide.

“Illinois is leading the way in addressing the War on Drugs as no state has before, and dispensary ownership that reflects our state’s diversity is a product of that commitment,” Pritzker said on Friday in a statement from the governor’s office. “These licenses represent a significant step toward accountability for the decades of injustice preceding cannabis legalization. Illinois will continue to deliver on the promises of putting equity at the forefront of this process.”

Retail Sales Began in Illinois Two Years Ago

Illinois’ Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act was the first adult-use cannabis legalization measure in the United States to be passed by a state legislature, rather than through a ballot initiative approved by voters. Sales of adult-use cannabis began at existing medical dispensaries in 2020.

But licensing adult-use cannabis retailers has been marked by setbacks and legal challenges over the state’s system to license recreational cannabis businesses. Much of the controversy has centered on the state’s efforts to ensure that members of communities negatively impacted by prohibition and enforcement policies have a path to business ownership in the newly legal adult-use cannabis industry. The first 75 licenses were originally slated to be awarded in May 2020, but lawsuits have delayed progress several times.

“Since 2019, we have worked diligently to ensure communities disproportionately harmed by cannabis prohibition and discriminatory law enforcement are included in the adult-use cannabis industry,” said Senate Majority Leader Kimberly A. Lightford. “With the release of 149 Conditional Adult Use Dispensing Organization Licenses, Illinois has become a frontrunner in cannabis minority ownership and will continue to drive social equity, social justice and inclusion into the marketplace.”

Among the conditional use licensees selected through the lottery process,  41% are majority Black-owned, 7% are majority white-owned, and 4% are majority Latino-owned, while 38% of awardees did not disclose the race of their owners. State officials noted that “Illinois has made and executed the greatest commitment of adult use cannabis tax revenue to community reinvestment, expunged the most criminal history records involving cannabis, and has the highest rate of minority ownership of any state reporting/collecting ownership demographic data in the country.”

Licensees Have Six Months To Receive Final Approval

Applicants now have 180 days to secure their business location and receive final approval for licensing from state regulators. If conditional licensees are unable to secure a suitable business location within that time, they are permitted to file for a 180-day extension to complete the process.

“The release of these licenses means a transformation of the retail side of Illinois’ cannabis industry, creating more opportunities for individuals from all backgrounds to reap the benefits of legalization as employees and ancillary service providers,” said Mario Treto, Jr., Secretary of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. “These licensees continue to lay the groundwork for a cannabis industry more diverse and equitable than any other in the country. I am extremely proud of our team for their work over the past two years and look forward to working with these new businesses [sic] owners throughout the next stages of licensure.”

Many of the business owners selected as conditional adult-use retailer licensees are likely to face challenges obtaining capital to secure a site and get their operation up and running. Through a separate program administered by the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO), the state offers low-interest loans to qualified licensed companies through its Social Equity Cannabis Loan Program. 

The first round of social equity license applicants are expected to finalize loan agreements directly with DCEO’s participating lenders in the coming weeks, with the next phase of the loan program launching in the near future. Additional information about the Social Equity Cannabis Loan Program is available online. DCEO also funds free licensing and post-licensing technical assistance through their partners at Oakton Community College, The Trep School, the Women’s Business Development Center, and the University of Illinois Chicago Law School. Additional information on these resources and how to access them can be found on the program website.

One of the selected conditional applicants, Akele Parnell, a co-owner of Marigrow, plans to open a dispensary in the Chicago neighborhood of Lincoln Park. The business has already raised the necessary capital and is ready to move on to the next step in the process.

“We have our financing,” Parnell told Crain Chicago. “Now we have to go through rezoning.”

“It was quite the wait. It’s a relief now to have the license in hand,” Parnell added. “There’s a lot of work ahead.”

The post Illinois Issues 149 Cannabis Retailer Licenses appeared first on High Times.

The post Illinois Issues 149 Cannabis Retailer Licenses appeared first on Paradise Found.

The state of Illinois on Friday announced plans to award 185 new dispensary licenses for its adult-use cannabis program, less than a month after a judge cleared the way for the process to begin anew.

The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation said that the licenses will be awarded in “three waves” of lotteries this summer, and that the “pace of licensing will be determined by how quickly applicants’ compliance checks can be verified.”

“Today marks the beginning of the next chapter of the most equitable adult-use cannabis program in the country,” Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said in a statement on Friday. “After signing the most equity-centered program in the country into law, expunging thousands of low-level cannabis convictions, and investing tens of millions of dollars in cannabis proceeds in communities failed by the war on drugs, we are about to more than double the number of adult use cannabis dispensaries in Illinois. This means countless more opportunities for communities that have suffered from historic disinvestment to join this growing industry and ensure its makeup reflects the diversity of our state.”

The announcement on Friday was made possible by a ruling late last month from Cook County Circuit Judge Michael Mullen, who lifted a stay on new recreational cannabis dispensary licenses that had lasted nearly a year. 

The courts had issued an injunction on new licenses while it considered from parties who said they were wrong excluded from previous lotteries.

According to the Chicago Tribune, “Black and Latino applicants have complained they have been unfairly kept out of the legal cannabis business in Illinois, where just 21 licenses for full-size growers have been issued, almost entirely to white owners, several of whom have come to dominate the industry nationally.”

In March, Pritzker’s administration announced “rules to simplify the cannabis dispensary license application process, remove barriers for social equity applicants, and expand opportunities targeted to the communities most impacted by the failed war on drugs.”

“From day one, Illinois has been dedicated to leading the nation in an equity-centric approach to legalizing cannabis, and these proposed changes to the application process will make it much easier for social equity applicants to pursue licenses.” Pritzker, a Democrat, said at the time. “I appreciate all the feedback we have received from stakeholders since the start of the cannabis program, whose work informed this proposal and is continuing to make Illinois’ growing cannabis industry the most equitable in the nation.”

Mario Treto, Jr., Acting Secretary of the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, said at the time that the state is “committed to an inclusive and equitable cannabis program that continues to build on its successes while also recognizing and taking steps to improve it further.”

The state said Friday that to “ensure fairness for all applicants and correct any errors in the lottery process, [Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation] has also announced its plans to conduct three corrective lotteries in June (one for each of the cannabis dispensary license lotteries held in 2021).”

“We recognize this is a long-awaited day by many seeking to join the most diverse and inclusive adult use cannabis industry of any state and IDFPR is prepared to take the next steps forward together,” Treto said in a press release on Friday. “Our agency is ready to work with applicants throughout the next stage so they may obtain their licenses and join Illinois’ robust adult use cannabis industry.”

The Department of Financial and Professional Regulation said Friday that it will issue conditional licenses in three lottery waves beginning on or before July 22.

The post Illinois Announces Plans for 185 New Dispensary Licenses appeared first on High Times.

The post Illinois Announces Plans for 185 New Dispensary Licenses appeared first on Paradise Found.

An Illinois judge last week lifted an injunction that barred the state from issuing licenses for recreational pot retailers after a delay that claimed the better part of a year. The ruling from Cook County Circuit Judge Michael Mullen potentially clears the way for state regulators to issue 185 licenses for adult-use cannabis dispensaries, although further legal action could put the process on hold again.

Mullen ordered the stay on issuing new licenses for recreational dispensaries last year after lawsuits against the process were filed by applicants who alleged that they were unfairly excluded from lotteries to award the permits. State cannabis regulators have since authorized a new lottery process to give the plaintiffs another chance to win a license.

Mullen lifted the stay on Friday, clearing the way for the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) to award the 185 conditional adult-use cannabis dispensary licenses held up by the order to applicants selected in three lotteries that were held in 2021. In a statement released by the agency after the ruling, the IDFPR said that it would release detailed information on the next steps applicants must take after receiving guidance in a related case in federal court.

“Today is a key development toward our ultimate goal of creating the most diverse, inclusive, and robust adult use cannabis industry of any state in the country,” IDFPR secretary Mario Treto Jr. said in a statement from the agency. “We stand ready to swiftly move forward in ensuring Illinois’ standing as a national leader in the advancement of cannabis equity.”

Creating an Equitable Cannabis Industry in Illinois

Black and Latino entrepreneurs had argued that the state’s process for issuing adult-use cannabis licenses has failed to produce a regulated weed industry that reflects Illinois’ diversity. Under state law, the first 75 dispensary licenses were supposed to be awarded two years ago. But problems with scoring the applications resulted in only 21 applicants out of 700 qualifying to participate in a lottery to award the licenses.

Mullen lifted the stay after one of the plaintiffs in the litigation, WAH Group LLC, asked the court to end the ban on issuing new licenses. The company has won the rights to three licenses, making lifting the ban advantageous to the plaintiff.

Ryan Holz, an attorney who represents other businesses that have also won licenses and some applicants who were excluded from lotteries, praised the judge’s decision to lift the stay.

“People are super excited to move forward,” Holz told the Chicago Tribune.

But he warned that additional businesses left out of previous lotteries may ask for a new injunction. And in its request to the court, WAH Group noted that Cook County Judge Celia Gamrath has said that a separate cannabis business licensing case could take months or years of litigation to resolve.

In March, Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker announced that the IDFPR would be enacting new rules to simplify the dispensary application process and remove barriers for social equity applicants. Noting that the agency is required to issue another 50 recreational weed dispensary licenses by the end of the year, the governor’s office said that the “Pritzker Administration is committed to ensuring the new legal cannabis industry reflects the diversity of the state.”

“From day one, Illinois has been dedicated to leading the nation in an equity-centric approach to legalizing cannabis, and these proposed changes to the application process will make it much easier for social equity applicants to pursue licenses,” Pritzker said at the time. “I appreciate all the feedback we have received from stakeholders since the start of the cannabis program, whose work informed this proposal and is continuing to make Illinois’ growing cannabis industry the most equitable in the nation.”

The IDFPR noted in its statement last week that the department is working to finalize plans for three corrective lotteries to award cannabis business licenses, one for each of the lotteries held in 2021, that are scheduled for next month. Details on those lotteries will be released on the agency’s website once plans are finalized.

The post Illinois Judge Lifts Injunction on Issuing Cannabis Dispensary Licenses appeared first on High Times.

The post Illinois Judge Lifts Injunction on Issuing Cannabis Dispensary Licenses appeared first on Paradise Found.