Already this year, Illinois News Joint has reported on several new dispensary openings as businesses hurried to beat the legal deadline of April 1 that the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation had set for fifty-five secondary site licenses and fifty-five same-site licenses.

In 2021 alone, dispensaries that received licensing before the deadline included Verilife, Consume, NuEra, Windy City Cannabis, Beyond/Hello, Curaleaf, Elevele, Zen Leaf, The Happy Cannabis Company, GreenGate, The Dispensary, Ascend, Hatch Dispensary, MedMen, Rise, Maribis, and Enlightened.

The 110 total dispensary licenses, four of which were issued on the final day of March 31, were approved not because the retail store opened but because the dispensary locations were able to draw up construction plans and have the zoning approved before the deadline.

No new medical dispensaries have been opened, and the 75 dispensary licenses that were supposed to be issued more than a year ago (May 1, 2020), have yet to be issued.

For more Illinois News Joint news and dispensary openings, click here.