iPhone-like lines expected for pot legalization
Head of cannabis business group warns recreational users to be patient on Jan. 1
Recreational marijuana is legal in Illinois come Jan. 1. (Shutterstock)
By Ted Cox
The head of an Illinois cannabis business group warns recreational pot users to be ready for long lines like those for a newly released iPhone when marijuana is legalized Jan. 1.
“There are long lines and short supplies when the hot new iPhone comes out each year,” said Pamela Althoff, executive director of the Cannabis Business Association of Illinois, in a news release sent out Tuesday. “We expect cannabis will be like that at the beginning.”
Also known as CannaBiz Illinois, the association represents cultivation centers and dispensaries that have already served thousands of medical-cannabis patients over the past several years. They’ll be leading the way in growing and selling marijuana products for the general public when recreational use becomes legal with the new year.
Althoff warned, however, that CannaBiz Illinois cultivation centers and dispensaries have to serve medical patients first in the state’s expanding program, which was just made permanent this year. They’ve been working to meet an already increasing demand, which figures to grow exponentially with full legalization Jan. 1.
“It’s a perfect storm — one we could not anticipate as we were working on our new laws in the spring legislative session,” Althoff said.
“There are many challenges ahead as our members try to provide as much quality product as we can on Day One,” she added. “We are working on a truncated time frame, from the bill passing in late May and getting signed into law, to licenses being issued by the Illinois Department of Agriculture later this summer. We will not sacrifice the high-quality standards our medical patients have come to expect.”
The news release advised: “Cannabis is an agricultural plant, and it takes time to grow. It’s not manufactured or developed in a lab or on an assembly line. As seen in other states, demand will be great on Jan. 1 — and there will not be enough available right away to meet the needs of everyone in Illinois and coming from out of state to be part of the first wave of legal use here.”
Customers line up to buy new iPhones outside an Apple store in Chicago. (Flickr/Paul Kroll)
A study commissioned earlier this year by state Rep. Kelly Cassidy and state Sen. Heather Steans, lead sponsors of the legalization bill that passed the General Assembly and was signed into law by Gov. Pritzker, projected that medical-marijuana firms would struggle to meet demand with the onset of recreational pot. It suggested that shortage would provide an opening for new firms, with Illinois’s legalization law giving priority to so-called equity businesses in areas that were afflicted by the War on Drugs. But many of those new firms may not be up and running on Jan. 1.
Althoff said to expect “a slow and methodical rollout for safe, top-quality products while creating jobs, equity, and community investment.”
Althoff said that, for firms already operating in the state’s medical-marijuana program, their patients have to come first. “We know some patients are apprehensive about the impact adult-use rollout will have on their ability to get the products they need, when they need them,” she said. “Our members are committed to ensuring medical patients are our top priority, and we are working hard to educate them and ensure they have the access to our products they need in these coming weeks.”
Althoff also urged new Illinois recreational pot smokers to set a good example in order for legalization to be accepted and to thrive. “Some problems are inevitable from long lines to product shortages to some bad choices,” she said. “But if we all commit to consuming responsibly, we can send a strong message and build on the success story we have seen with our medical program where other states model Illinois for their programs.”