State to pick overdue marijuana dispensary winners by Aug. 19

More than 200 other craft growing, infusion, transportation licenses awarded

State to pick overdue marijuana dispensary winners by Aug. 19
More than 200 other craft growing,
infusion, transportation licenses awarded

BY JERRY NOWICKI
Capitol News Illinois
jnowicki@capitolnewsillinois.com

 More than a year after new marijuana dispensary licenses
were scheduled to be distributed per the state’s 2019 adult-use
legalization law, the governor’s office announced the initial
lottery and two new ones will happen by the end of August.

The state also announced the award of more than 200 other
licenses for craft growing and infusing operations as well as
distribution, and the governor signed into law the measure that
will allow for the two new lotteries.

“In addition to signing that legislation, we’re actually issuing
200 craft grower (and other) licenses across the state and
about 67 percent of those are going to people of color,” Pritzker
said at a Thursday morning Chicago news conference on
criminal justice reform. “And so there will be people getting
into business in the cannabis industry, nearly right away, and
I’m very pleased about that.”

The newly signed bill, House Bill 1443, was an effort to jumpstart
the equity measures in the 2019 law that aimed to diversify
the largely white, male-dominated legal marijuana industry.

Per the initial law, 75 dispensary licenses were to have been
distributed over one year ago, but of the 900-plus applicants for
those licenses, only 21 achieved the perfect score necessary to be
entered into the final lottery. That caused the governor’s office to
pause the final lottery amid backlash from equity advocates.

That lottery will now be held Aug. 19 with all 21 finalists
eligible to win licenses.

While the initial lottery allowed only applicants that were
tied for the highest score to reach the lottery, the new lotteries
will instead apply to those who received 85 percent or more on
their 250-point application.

The first new lottery for 55 licenses includes any firm that
scored at least an 85 percent on its initial application that has
not hit a 10-license limit. That lottery will be held July 29.

The second new batch of 55 licenses would be available to
firms that scored 85 percent or higher that also have at least
51 percent ownership meeting social equity requirements,
including living in an area impacted by the war on drugs for at
least 10 years, having been arrested or convicted of a marijuana
crime eligible for expungement, or being a member of a family
impacted by the war on drugs.

That lottery is scheduled for Aug. 5.

“Almost all states that have legalized cannabis have done
so in a way that produced a multi-billion-dollar industry
dominated by a handful of corporations and individuals that
lack diversity. But Illinois is attempting to produce a cannabis
industry that actually looks like Illinois,” Toi Hutchinson,
Pritzker’s marijuana advisor, said in a news release. “What
we’re attempting to accomplish is hard to do and takes time to
accomplish, but we have an obligation to ensure that it gets as
strong a start as possible.”

The lotteries for all marijuana-related licenses will be
managed by the Illinois Lottery and drawn by a randomized
computer process.

The governor’s office also announced Thursday that the Illinois
Department of Agriculture has reached out to 213 winners
of other marijuana-related licenses. Those include 40 craft grow
licenses – a grow operation with a smaller footprint than the
massive cultivation centers – as well as 32 licenses for infusing
other products such as foods or oils with marijuana and another
141 licenses to transport marijuana products.

While applicants for those licenses were not required to report
their gender or race information to the state, the governor’s
office said 80 percent of the applicants “self-reported” their
demographic information, and 98 applicants reported being
Black-owned, 19 Latino and 34 Black woman-owned.

Upon acceptance of the licenses and payment of fees, the
winners will be made public.

The original legalization law also allowed up to eight
community colleges in the state to receive licenses to develop
a curriculum to train students in marijuana related fields. The
new law signed Thursday removes that cap.

The state announced Kishwaukee College, Oakton College,
Olive-Harvey College, Shawnee Community College, Southwestern
Illinois College, Triton College and Wilbur Wright College will
receive the initial licenses, but more will eventually be announced.
The state’s Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity
also has partnered with two private lenders to create a
loan program for social equity applicants that makes available
up to $100,000 for a transporter license applicant, $500,000 for
a dispensing organization or infuser and $1 million for a cultivator.
Information can be found on DCEO’s website.

Capitol News Illinois is a nonprofit, nonpartisan news service
covering state government and distributed to more than 400
newspapers statewide. It is funded primarily by the Illinois
Press Foundation and the Robert R. McCormick Foundation.

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