Some random thoughts as an IL mmj card holder.
I think the biggest issues here are an extremely limited number of covered conditions allowed to get a card, way too long of a proccess and wait time to actually get the card, and no employment protections for patients.
Some of this will fix itself as we move from an anti-cannabis governor to a pro-legalization one. The state legislature definitely needs to address the employment issue as that is an issue for many people.
As far as dispensaries and product goes, there is generally an OK selection of product and availability, but price is definitely an issue here. Sometimes more than double what I hear stuff goes for on the open market. On the plus side, our product testing requirements are strong, although I would like to see mandatory terpene analysis and better required info on packaging, especially with like edibles.
There is some vertical integration here with some companies owning stakes and licenses for both cultivation and distribution. From what I can tell, even if a dispensary is not owned by a grower, there are definitely sweetheart deals between some as there are obvious attempts to push some cultivators’ product over others.
Where supply is an issue, it seems like an artificially created situation to bump up price. The dispensary closest to me really only sells flower in gram and eighth amounts, unless it is popcorn or shake. There are no breaks for quantity, so $18-20/g and $55-60/eighth adds up quick.
The other thing is Illinois is likely to legalize recreational soon, so all these companies in the MMJ business are just here so they can be first out of the gate when rec hits. They are definitely using patients to advertise for them encouraging people to post on social media and giving small discounts for wearing dispensary gear when coming in to buy something.
Also, curious to see how the mmj program fairs after legalization. Sounds like that has been an issue in many of the states.
