Gov. Rauner announces winners of medical marijuana licenses
Three weeks after departing Gov. Pat Quinn failed to act on medical marijuana, the administration of his successor, Gov. Bruce Rauner, on Monday awarded the first licenses for Illinois' fledgling program.
Quinn, a Democrat, had the recommendations on his desk just prior to Republican Rauner's inauguration, but he did not take action on which firms should receive licenses.
Letters to 18 winning cultivation centers and 52 retail shops were sent Monday afternoon, Rauner spokesman Lance Trover told The Associated Press. In eight districts, including Springfield's, Rauner delayed licenses for further review, leaving those jurisdictions awaiting word on which companies will be able to join what could be a $36 million industry in 2016.
Rauner's office turned Quinn's recommendations over to the attorney general for review Jan. 26. According to the governor's office, the attorney general found that some of the Quinn administration decisions - including the disqualification of some applicants - likely would not hold up in court. As a result, the highest-scoring firms not disqualified on the original recommendations were awarded licenses.
But some applications are still being reviewed, which means Springfield will have to wait for one dispensary license.
For Illinois State Police District 19 Atraxia was chosen for a cultivation center permit while Kirkwood Pharmacy Group of Harrisburg was the dispensary awardee. Kirkwood Pharmacy Group is based in DuQuoin.
The selected cultivation centers will receive a letter from the Department of Agriculture that they must respond to within 48 hours to accept the permit. After that, the businesses will have to meet a number of conditions including Agriculture and State Police oversight, posting of a surety bond, a licensing fee and registering their agents.
Dispensaries must submit a registration packet to the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation within 120 days of being notified that they were the highest-scoring applicant in the district. They must then post a bond and, once established, open the dispensary for inspection.
Rep. Lou Lang, a Democrat from Skokie and major proponent of the four-year pilot program, said he was pleased to hear the governor awarded the licenses. Rauner said during his campaign he would have vetoed the medical marijuana bill because of the way the selection process was set up.
"Patients and caregivers who need this product that have been waiting for it for a very long time, there's now some light at the end of the tunnel for them," Lang said. "I know that Gov. Rauner initially said he wasn't a big fan of the program, but he did promise me a thorough look once he became governor, and true to his word he analyzed it and felt it was in the best interest of patients to issue the licenses."
Lang said he plans to talk to the governor about extending the pilot period for the program because it has experienced so many delays.
"I intend to talk to the governor about it, not to get his stamp of approval, but just to explain to him why I think we need to do this," Lang said. "I do think we need a full four-year pilot to analyze how it is going."
Lang added he was worried about higher costs for the owners of the dispensaries and growing facilities as they try to recoup their investment in a shorter amount of time. He said from his conversations with potential growers, he expects the first batch of medical marijuana to be ready by early to mid-summer.
Contact Seth A. Richardson: seth.richardson@sj-r.com, 782-3095, twitter.com/SethARichardson.