CHICAGO — The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation announced Tuesday that applications for adult use cannabis licenses for new dispensing organizations are now available.
Applications for new dispensing organizations can be found on the department’s website. They will be accepted starting Dec. 10, 2019 and must be submitted by noon on Jan. 2, 2020. Applications will start being reviewed following the Jan. 2 deadline, with 75 conditional adult use dispensing organization licenses awarded by May 1, 2020.
“As Illinois enters the next phase of its adult use cannabis program, we are committed to a process that is efficient, timely and most critically, continues to place equity at the forefront,” said Gov. J.B. Pritzker. “From ensuring social equity applicants receive points on their application to providing grants and technical assistance, this is a process that does more than any other state in the nation to make equity a priority.”
Social equity applicants will receive points on their application and are eligible to receive technical assistance, grants, low-interest loans and fee reductions and waivers. To qualify as a social equity applicant, the statute requires the applicant to be an Illinois resident and meet one of the following criteria:
A. At least 51% ownership and control by one or more individuals who have resided at least five of the preceding 10 years in a disproportionately impacted area.
B. At least 51% ownership and control by one or more individuals [or family member of an individual] who have been arrested for, convicted of, or adjudicated delinquent for an offense that is eligible for cannabis expungement.
C. Applicants with minimum of 10 full-time employees, at least 51% of employees who now live in a disproportionately impacted area or hve been arrested for, convicted of, or adjudicated delinquent for an offense that is eligible for cannabis expungement, or is a member of an impacted family.
Once IDFPR awards a conditional license, an applicant has 180 days to find a location that cannot be within 1,500 feet of another licensed dispensing organization.