In the spring of 2019, the Democratic-led Illinois legislature voted to legalize the recreational use of cannabis for adults, paving the way for existing medical marijuana dispensaries to begin selling weed to the general population on Jan.
With an eye toward correcting long-term discriminatory policing of marijuana laws, the state’s legalization effort also reserved some licenses for social equity applicants, including people of color living in areas disproportionately impacted by the war on drugs.
But more than two years after legalization went into effect in Illinois, many industry experts say that social equity license holders have yet to reap the benefits of the state’s marijuana market.
In January of 2020, the first month that recreational-use cannabis products hit dispensaries shelves, Illinois companies sold slightly more than $39 million in legal marijuana.
A large, corporate grower or cannabis company is like the McDonald’s of the marijuana industry, with as many as dozens of farms and dispensaries across the country.
That opens the process up to many more people, Burns said.
“There are still people who live in disproportionately impacted areas, such as myself, there are still people who have expungable cannabis arrests, such as myself and at least two other of my principal officers,” he said.
And when you have a limited license state, data has shown there’s not as much inclusion by BIPOC communities, by minority owners.
And many of the nation’s largest cannabis companies are setting up shop in Chicago.
Estimates from Whitney, NCIA’s chief economist, show that Illinois should be capturing around $2 million in tax revenue from legal sales per day.
“The canopy – basically the amount of square footage that Illinois has licensed to support the retail channel – is rather limited,” he said.
Burns said he expects at least one or two more retail cannabis stores to open in the city, with one likely to open on the southern end of town on Howard Street or Chicago Avenue.
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