As we arrive at the middle of June, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) has not issued any conditional adult-use cannabis dispensary licenses and, as we recently wrote about here, it may be a while before the licenses are issued. Nevertheless, those licenses will be issued eventually, and it is important that cannabis entrepreneurs begin evaluating their next steps.
Read MoreMany in Illinois have been waiting with bated breath for the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) to issue new (conditional) adult use cannabis dispensary licenses and it appears that wait may not end anytime soon. By way of background, under the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act, an ambitious and precedent-setting social equity centered piece of legislation, these license were to be issued before May 1, 2020.
Read MoreIn early January, Illinois received thousands of applications for adult-use cannabis dispensary licenses. Only 75 of those applications will be granted a license…eventually. Although the Illinois Cannabis Tax and Regulation Act (the Act) required the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation (IDFPR) to issue the licenses before May 1, 2020, Governor J.B. Pritzker and the IDFPR have delayed their issuance indefinitely due to the ongoing COVID-19 crisis.
Read MoreAs we previously discussed on our blog (here, here, and here), the cannabis industry, like most industries, is facing challenges related to the coronavirus pandemic. For example, recreational marijuana dispensaries in Massachusetts were not deemed to be essential businesses and were therefore required to close under the state’s emergency order.
Read MoreUnionization has been a hot topic in the Illinois cannabis market for some time now. The United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 881 recently won a vote to unionize Cresco’s Joliet cultivation facility. The Teamsters lost a similar vote to unionize Green Thumb’s Rock Island cultivation facility.
Read MoreAccording to a press release issued yesterday, the Cannabis Equity Illinois Coalition signed what is believed to be a first-in-the-nation Community Benefits Agreement with a cannabis operator attempting to open a new dispensary in Chicago. The operator, Nature’s Care Company, is currently seeking approval from the Zoning Board of Appeals for the City of Chicago, which has the power to grant a special use permit that is required to open a state-licensed cannabis business.
Read MoreMarijuana sales in Colorado totaled nearly $1.75 billion in 2019 according to data released by the Department of Revenue’s Marijuana Enforcement Division. The $1,747,990,628 in sales includes both recreational and medical marijuana and is a sizeable increase from 2018, when sales totaled $1,545,691,080.
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