The status hearing, which involved nine different plaintiffs’ attorneys representing dozens of plaintiffs, was called to discuss what application and scoring materials state regulators should be required to release to the complainants.
42% of the licenses are majority Black-owned, 36% are majority White-owned, 8% (4) are majority Hispanic-owned, and 8% are owned by a partnership group.
Licensees that have been waiting over two years are planning out how to move forward with their business aspirations.
“The two orders previously ordered, stays, have been lifted,” said Cook County Circuit Court Judge Michael Mullen. But the licenses won’t be awarded until another federal case is resolved.
Long-time cannabis industry plaintiff WAH Group filed a motion this morning that would lift a July 2021 stay on awarding 185 adult use dispensary licenses.
Until now, the state’s cannabis industry has been overwhelmingly white since the beginning of the state’s medical program in 2015 and recreational use in 2020.
Plaintiffs in Illinois’ dispensary “supercase” will have an opportunity to participate in a corrective lottery for adult use dispensary licenses before they make their arguments before a Cook County Circuit Court judge on whether or not they should be entitled to a license, according to a ruling issued Tuesday night.
Issuing 60 licenses would more than double the current 40 craft grow licenses in Illinois and help give more individuals an opportunity to enter the cannabis industry.
The CROO position was not endowed with any real power, say government insiders. It lacks direct authority over any agency and legislation creating it stipulates that the position is not allowed to directly manage programs or enforcement.
The expansion of craft grow licenses has long been a fraught issue in Illinois. Through lawsuits and general advocacy, craft growers in the state have sought reform since Illinois became a recreational state in 2019.
