Adult-Use Marijuana in Illinois
Finally! Illinois is the 11th state to legalize adult-use (recreational) marijuana *cue ugly cry*
What does this mean?
Starting January 1st, 2020, Illinoisians can legally possess cannabis in accordance with the following allotments:
- 30 grams of cannabis flower
- 5 grams of cannabis concentrate
- 500 mg of cannabis-infused products
Additionally, non-residents are able to purchase half of these amounts. With this in mind, it’s been quite an interesting journey for the state of Illinois.
Michael Mayes discusses the stance of Marijuana in Illinois, July 2015
Michael Mayes is the CEO and founder of Quantum 9. Back in July 2015, Mayes addressed to the Chicago Tribune the slow growth Illinois experienced while trying to sustain the medical marijuana industry. In this article, Mayes states how the overall access to the plant and growth of medical patients in Illinois is “slow going” and would need about 100,000 more patients to successfully sustain the market.
Note, this is exactly four years ago. The journey to adult-use marijuana in Illinois has seen its fair share of perplexities with regard to reluctance, legalities, and preparation. Shall we compare?
From Then to Now
In July 2015, there were only 100 accepted patients approved to access medical marijuana. With about 22,600 people signed up to obtain the plant, only 3,200 actually completed the application.
During this time, it was assumed that this was due to extensive submission processes including fingerprints to the state and lengthy background checks. In addition to its tedious sign-up process, there were very few qualifying conditions for potential medical marijuana patients. Ultimately, this created very large concerns for the cannabis market.
Fast forward 4 years, it is now September 2019 and January 2020 couldn’t come faster in Illinois! Through improvements in legalities, application processes, and the overall development of medical dispensaries, the growth of marijuana in Illinois is more promising.
Now, Illinois has over 80,000 medical marijuana patients in the system and actively purchasing medical marijuana. With over 50 qualifying debilitating conditions available for potential cardholders and more than 50 medical dispensaries scattered throughout Illinois, it is only up for the industry from here.
Moving Forward in Illinois
With Illinois allowing adult-use marijuana starting January 2020, dispensaries have been staffing up, remodeling and preparing. Here is a timeline of what to expect moving forward for Illinois in the adult-use cannabis market:
For more about the legalization of adult-use marijuana in Illinois, please click here.
In order to meet the demands of the expected adult-use market in Illinois, many start-up businesses will need to acquire the necessary licenses and requirements. Because of this, Mayes and the team at Quantum 9 continue to work diligently toward cannabis permit acquisition and licensing.
For Quantum 9 cannabis consulting services, please click here.
