Going green: medical marijuana comes to Lake County

On July 18, 2014, the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules approved the Medical Cannabis Pilot Program. In turn, the Illinois program allowed for fifty plus medical marijuana dispensaries, three of which have been allocated for Lake County.

Initially the three dispensaries intended for Lake County were meant to all be placed within the city of Mundelein. However, due to zoning and state regulatory measures, two of the three dispensaries intended for Mundelein are forced to move within a period of 120 days to another location in Lake County.

“There are two different hoops that you have to jump through to have a medical marijuana dispensary in your community. One is the state laws set forth by Illinois that describe the products you can sell and the placement of the facility, as well as the rules set forth by the individual community that votes whether or not to host that retail facility,” Victor Barrera, the Director of Planning and Development for the Village of Mundelein, said.

In order for a dispensary to arrive in Deerfield, it would require a vote to begin the process of zoning a dispensary. These votes are specific to each community that hosts a retail service of this kind, which typically entails maintaining a key distance from schools and religious institutions.

“Zoning is a challenge because you, as the owner of a retail facility, have to comply with both state and community laws and ordinances. Which can be as large as who you let it in to your establishment or as minute as the hours you can be open, ” Barrera said.

Rabbi Jeffrey Kahn, formerly a citizen of Rockford, Illinois and currently an owner of a medical marijuana dispensary in Washington D.C., knows what it is like to join this burgeoning health service industry.

“My favorite thing to see is people develop a genuine curiosity for this medicine that improves people’s lives. They start out maybe even disliking it, but once you see how cannabis helps those in need, then they begin to see the value in it and how it is a worthwhile addition to their community,” Kahn said.

Medical marijuana patients, under state law, can be of any age, not just legal adults.

“We have been coordinating with families over the past year and now starting last week have actually had the opportunity to treat children suffering from seizure disorders such as epilepsy or minors who are in severe pain. Often the patients that I have seen since the dispensary has been functional over the past year are patients who suffer from diseases that are not very common or commonly treated. This leads to a lack of availability for pharmaceuticals that can properly treat an illness; either they are too strong or far too weak, ” Khan said.

Patients with illnesses ranging from multiple sclerosis to the side effects of chemotherapy all have access, with the agreement of their physician, to a prescription for medical cannabis. However, there is growing concern from the anti-medical marijuana movement that placing dispensaries within communities will allow non-patients to acquire marijuana.

“The fact is, people have had access to cannabis long before medical marijuana was even a thing. And the medicine that is sold in a dispensary is medical grade, meaning its levels of psychoactive ingredients are far decreased and the price is vastly increased, and your name is thrown on a state registry declaring you as a patient of medical cannabis, ” Khan said.

According to a Huffpost poll, nationally, fifty percent of Americans believe that marijuana should be legalized recreationally on a federal level. That is without taking into account patients like Marla Levi. Levi, a multiple sclerosis patient of over 20 years, attested to the change marijuana could bring. At a conference regarding the Medical Marijuana Pilot Program in Chicago, Levi and fellow patients let their voices be heard about the difference it makes in their day to day lives.

“I’m taking many pharmaceuticals. Just about whatever[is necessary]. I lost my gall bladder because I had taken so many pills – so many medications – so many pharmaceutical medications, and my preferred use of the medical marijuana or cannabis – whatever – is brownie because I’m not a smoker.” Levi said.

The state government has already told two of the dispensaries to find new retail locations within 120 days or else they will be forced to reapply for licensure in Illinois. However, this time frame only leaves so much room for these establishments to find new areas to reside within Lake County.

“I don’t know where they plan on going to next but given the steps that they need to go to, with the time that they are given, there are only so many places they can go to within the county as it is,” Barrera said.

Illinois is one of the strictest states in the nation when it comes to medical marijuana. While many states have extensive lists of symptoms and illnesses that allow a patient to receive a prescription for medical marijuana, Illinois’ is a short list confined to fatal illnesses or conditions that cause unbearable pain to an individual. The list of legitimate conditions requiring medicinal marijuana equals the amount of ways that a patient can consume cannabis.

“We began functioning just over a year ago, so we don’t have quite the variety of ways for patients to medicate themselves, but quite often you will see dry bud, or the flower that is commonly portrayed in the media, but patients will often medicate with concentrates and edibles for non smoking patients and tinctures for patients who would like to drink their medication,” Kahn said.

Federally, marijuana is still listed as a schedule one drug, meaning it is heavily investigated on par with drugs such as heroin and cocaine. There was formerly a pattern of the Drug Enforcement Agency walking into a dispensary arresting the owners and workers, and seizing all drugs and cash found on the scene. Given that dispensaries operate entirely on cash , it leaves these owners without a business and subjecting the towns they are located in to unnecessary violence. However, given the new “pot culture” in America and the relaxed attitude the federal government has displayed toward medicinal dispensaries, Kahn is sure that this behavior is going to remain in the past.

“When we began this journey five years ago, there was always that fear that the DEA would roll in and assault our business. But as the years went by, not only were we ever approached by an agency of the federal government but members of the government became patients. This concept is one that people can often be uneasy about until it can positively affect them or a loved one. My wife and I became involved in this industry because of the experiences of watching my father in law suffer for years due to multiple sclerosis. And one of the things that eased his pain was cannabis,” Khan said.

Over the next 120 days, the citizens of Deerfield could be presented with an opportunity to receive a medicinal marijuana dispensary. Whether or not one will arrive remains to be seen. However, legalization on a state level following recent states initiatives like those in Washington and Colorado offer a preview of what come next.

“It’s only a matter of time, there will always be a few steps backwards like with any change, but it’s amazing to look back and see how much progress has been made, ” Kahn said.