GARFIELD RIDGE — Two Archer Avenue medical marijuana dispensaries have been OK'd by Gov. Bruce Rauner.
Maribis of Chicago and Chicago Alternative Health Center were given licenses to sell medical marijuana, according to the announcement by Rauner's office made late Monday.
Maribis of Chicago wants to open its dispensary at 4568-70 S. Archer Ave. in the southwest tip of Brighton Park. Records show the company is led by Laurel Dineff, an attorney who runs a Downtown law firm specializing in trademarks.
Less than three miles away, Chicago Alternative Health Center will open a dispensary at 5648 S. Archer Ave. in Garfield Ridge, right next to an office for the Securitas security outfit.
Chicago Alternative Health Center has already laid out its security plan, which would emulate other strict measures that will be used at other dispensaries, including multiple ID checks, escorts throughout the building and parking lot, security guards and surveillance cameras.
State law already requires medical marijuana users to face strict scrutiny, beginning with the application and fingerprinting process that's open to patients battling one or more of 37 serious illnesses.
If approved by the state, patients will receive a registration card, which, along with a valid state ID, would have to be presented to an agent at the dispensary before they could buy up to 2.5 ounces of cannabis every two weeks.
The state's health board is already soliciting petitions to add more debilitating conditions to the list of pot-eligible illnesses. The petitions will be accepted two times a year, from Jan. 1-31 and July 1-31.
The governor approved a series of licenses and permits to grow and sell marijuana in the state of Illinois — including some in Chicago neighborhoods — but he also left some up in the air, pending further review.
Several of the licenses were for clinics trying to open in Chicago, which is slated to get 13 dispensary licenses and one cultivation license.
It's all part of the state's effort to launch a long-stalled effort to allow contractors to grow and dispense medical marijuana to patients who qualify.
The task of handing out the coveted licenses was expected to be completed by Gov. Pat Quinn before he left office last month. While his staffers completed a vetting process, Quinn ultimately passed the baton to Rauner, who defeated Quinn in last fall's election.
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