Illinois is awarding nearly 150 new adult use cannabis dispensary licenses, including one that will allow a Jacksonville dispensary to open its doors.
149 conditional licenses were the first to be issued by the state’s recreational cannabis law late this week. The awarding of the licenses are based off of 3 lotteries conducted last year. Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation Secretary Mario Treto says the awardees reflect the state’s commitment to equity with the new awardees being 41% majority black-owned and 4% Latino-owned.
Kush21 partner Kenny Pleasant’s Jacksonville conditional dispensary license was listed as an awardee. Pleasant secured a zoning permit for 1112 Veterans Drive back in March as the first storefront for Kush21 outside of his native state of Washington. Pleasant told the Journal Courier back in June that he hopes to have his doors open by the end of this year.
An email to Pleasant about the news on Friday has not been returned to WLDS for comment.
After the state issues the conditional license, the state will conduct background checks of principal officers. Licensees will have 180 days to select a physical storefront location and obtain the operating license. The pace of operation licensing will be determined by how quickly applicants’ compliance checks can be verified by IDFPR.
With this first wave of strictly recreational licenses, the state will more than double its adult-use retail cannabis facilities in Illinois. Dispensaries that are currently open in the state were a part of the state’s original medicinal cannabis shops.