DOWNTOWN — Determining who's in and who's out in the state's move toward medical marijuana is as painstaking as cleaning the seeds and stems from a raw bud — or so a devoted pothead might think.
Gov. Bruce Rauner released a list of state-approved cultivation centers and dispensaries Monday.
Pending final approval, there are those who've been OK'd by both the city and state, those who've gotten the thumbs-up from one but not the other, and others left sitting in various states of limbo.
In Chicago, a select few of the state-approved dispensaries had already obtained special-use permits from the Zoning Board of Appeals. Some that had, however, were left off the state list or were declared "subject to further review." And at least one state-approved Chicago dispensary hasn't even applied for a city permit because it doesn't have an address yet.
So who's in and who's out? Let's separate the wheat from the chaff, so to speak, just to stay legal for the time being.
First the ground rules. Illinois is allowing a cultivation center in every State Police district — 22 statewide. But the Chicago district counts as two: Districts 3 and 4.
The new list awarded a state permit for a cultivation center for Bedford Grow, but it hasn't obtained a city zoning permit. It added that a cultivation center for Illinois Grown Medicine was "subject to further review."
Yet the only cultivation center thus far approved by the city, Custom Strains, owned by strip-club owner and trucking magnate Perry Mandera and set for the Hegewisch neighborhood, didn't even merit that secondary consideration by the state. Not that things couldn't change further on.
An aligned Custom Strains dispensary, set for 1105 W. Fulton St. in the West Loop, was "subject to further review" by the state after also obtaining a city permit.
Which brings us to the other city dispensaries, a possible 13 over eight city townships: two each in Jefferson, Hyde Park, Lake, Lake View and West townships, one apiece in North, South and Rogers Park townships.
The state has no applicants in the South Township. But township borders are a little-understood and largely antiquated state substratum laid under the city proper, for the most part the remnants of once-independent and long-since-annexed border towns like Lake View and Rogers Park.
Three Chicago medical-marijuana clinics have been designated "dispensary awardees authorized for registration" by the state, while also having obtained city special-use permits: Professional Pharmacy Management, 1368 N. Milwaukee Ave., in Wicker Park (West Township), and Maribis of Chicago, 4568 S. Archer Ave., in Brighton Park, and the Chicago Alternative Health Center, 5648 S. Archer Ave., in Garfield Ridge (both Lake Township).
MedMar, 2843 N. Halsted St., in Lakeview, got one of the two initial nods in Lake View Township, and recently had its case before the Zoning Board of Appeals continued, so it's in the pipeline. The other Lake View state-approved dispensary, The Cannabis Group, 5001 N. Clark St., in the old Pie Hole location, has not yet appeared before the Zoning Board of Appeals.
From there, let's simplify things further by just dealing in categories. Four dispensaries have received tentative state approval, but have not yet appeared before the Zoning Board of Appeals: Harborside Illinois Grown Medicine, in Hyde Park, 420 Capital Management, in Rogers Park, and Nu Med Rx, in North Township, while the Union Group of Illinois, in Jefferson Park, hasn't even filed for a special-use permit, as it hasn't formally selected a location.
Three proposed Chicago dispensaries are "subject to further review" by the state, and two have a leg up in that they already obtained a city special-use permit from the city: Mandera's aforementioned Custom Strains in the West Loop and Curative Health, 4758 N. Milwaukee Ave., in Jefferson Park. Illinois WelMed, in Hyde Park, is also on the "further review" list and has not appeared before the Zoning Board of Appeals.
Those that have obtained a city special-use permit, but are not even on the state "further review" list include the Euflora Health Center, 4760 1/2 N. Milwaukee Ave., owned by self-described "pot baron" Jamie Perino, and Organic Leaf Medical Dispensaries, 744 N. Damen Ave., which specializes in edibles that don't get the user "high" in the stereotypical pot sense.
Others left hanging with a special-use permit of no current use include Illinois ABJ Dispensaries, 2723 N. Elston Ave., in the Clybourn Industrial Corridor, CORU 500, 500 W. 18th St., in Pilsen, and Kind Care, 3541 N. Elston Ave., in Avondale.
For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here:
