CHICAGO — Medical marijuana consulting firm Good Intentions already is looking forward to the day when President Barack Obama will look up and see its sign from the Kennedy Expy.
The business' big identification sign was set up on top of the firm's building, 1723 N. Ashland Ave., on Thursday. Good Intentions provides information to patients seeking medical marijuana cards and businessmen looking to open dispensaries, among other services. The business already has a billboard on the Eisenhower Expy.
The location is key for CEO Tammy Jacobi, who said the sign would be visible to travelers on the Kennedy. The sign is 36 feet wide and more than 300 square feet altogether, Jacobi said.
“Because it’s connected to the building, we’re able to advertise who we are," Jacobi said. "But because it’s so big, it faces the Kennedy and also kind of doubles as a billboard, but we don’t call it a billboard.
"‘The president will see this when he’s going to O’Hare. The governor will see this,'" Jacobi said her landlord told her when they discussed the location.
Getting the sign up was not easy. Jacobi said her business received pushback from the city because medical marijuana businesses are not yet legal, and she doesn't want the sign called a billboard because "they'll come after" her since the sign is not an ad but a way to identify the business.
"For a while the city was like, 'We're not going to let you put this up,'" Jacobi said.
Eventually, regulators "were on board and understood the value of small business," Jacobi said, and Good Intentions was allowed to put the sign up.
Now, Jacobi said the business is looking forward to Sept. 1, when it can start submitting medical marijuana applications to the state on behalf of its clients. Jacobi said about 35,000 people have contacted the business to seek its help understanding Illinois' medical marijuana laws and regulations.
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