The Illinois Department of Agriculture and the Division of Cannabis Regulation released a statement to clarify legalities for licensed infusers’ ability to produce or extract their own cannabis concentrates with the intent to create cannabis-infused products. IDOA’s statement made clear that infusers are prohibited by law from performing extraction of cannabis concentrates, including production of cannabutter and other cannabis concentrates. The statement was reiterated in the Department of Agriculture Second Round of Application Questions and Answers document which states, “Only cultivation centers and craft growers can extract cannabis into concentrate. Infusers cannot extract cannabis; however, they can produce infused products using cannabis concentrate produced by cultivation centers or craft growers.”

The rules for this law became effective June 3, 2020, stating, “At no time shall an infuser organization or an infuser agent perform the extraction of cannabis concentrate from cannabis flower.” According to the IDOA, the objective of this compliance alert is to clarify that under current Illinois statutes and regulations, infusers are prohibited from performing the extraction of cannabis concentrate from cannabis flower. This prohibition “extends to all extraction methods, including but not limited to the use of propylene glycol, glycerin, butter, olive oil, or other typical cooking fats; water, ice, or dry ice; or butane, propane, CO2, ethanol, or isopropanol.”

“Infusers must obtain concentrates from an Illinois Department of Agriculture licensed cannabis cultivation center or craft grower in order to manufacture cannabis infused products,” the statement continued. “The definition of ‘cannabis-infused product’ specifically limits production to products that must not be intended to be smoked. This means that an infuser organization cannot manufacture or process cannabis into pre-rolls or cannabis concentrate into vape cartridges.”

Licensed infusers are also restricted to producing only infused cannabis products that are “shelf stable.” No cannabis infused products that require refrigeration or hot-holding may be manufactured for sale or distribution at a dispensing organization. For questions related to this Compliance Alert, please contact the Illinois Department of Agriculture, Division of Cannabis Regulation, by emailing AGR.ADULTUSE@Illinois.gov.

To better understand the wording, Illinois law defines these terms in the following way.

“Vaping,” is characterized as ‘changing cannabis from a hard, soft, or liquid form by combustion, heat, electricity, or batteries into a form that can be inhaled by the user’ and is specifically defined as “smoking” by Illinois Department of Revenue CRTA regulations.

“Cannabis concentrate” means a product derived from cannabis that is produced by extracting cannabinoids, including tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), from the plant through the use of propylene glycol, glycerin, butter, olive oil, or other typical cooking fats; water, ice, or dry ice; or butane, propane, CO2, ethanol, or isopropanol and with the intended use of smoking or making a cannabis-infused product. The use of any other solvent is expressly prohibited unless and until it is approved by the Department of Agriculture.

“Cannabis-infused product” means a beverage, food, oil, ointment, tincture, topical formulation, or another product containing cannabis or cannabis concentrate that is not intended to be smoked.

“Infuser organization” or “infuser” means a facility operated by an organization or business that is licensed by the Department of Agriculture to directly incorporate cannabis or cannabis concentrate into a product formulation to produce a cannabis-infused product.

For more Illinois cannabis industry news, click here.

To learn about cannabis-friendly events in Illinois, click here.

For Illinois News Joint reviews, click here.