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Recreational Cannabis Sales In Buffalo Grove Likely To Start By October


Marketing image from Zen Leaf.

After Gov. JB Pritzker signed HB 1443 that will result in the granting of more adult-use marijuana licenses in Illinois, a medical marijuana facility will soon be able to sell cannabis to adult recreational users.

Village Manager Dane Bragg recently said Sunnyside, located near Milwaukee Avenue and Deerfield Parkway, should begin to offer recreational cannabis likely in the middle of October.  

When officials begin putting together numbers for the village’s 2022 budget in the coming weeks, Bragg said they will include projected revenue from the sale of adult-use cannabis, but noted they will be conservative on the estimates.

He said the village has always estimated about $400,000 annually in sales tax revenues, and will likely stick with that number in 2022.

Late last year, village trustees sent a letter to Pritzker’s office requesting the state speed up its process so Sunnyside could sell recreational marijuana. 

Cresco Labs has sold medical marijuana in Buffalo Grove since 2015. The company last year moved from 1623 Barclay Blvd. to 830 N. Milwaukee Ave. in order to sell recreational marijuana under the store name Sunnyside. Under state law, medical marijuana facilities were not permitted to sell recreational marijuana if they moved operations, even if they stayed in the same community, resulting in Sunnyside having to submit for new state approval.

Village officials were upset over this decision because the approval of Buffalo Grove’s adult-use license was held up while other dispensaries opened in neighboring communities such as Wheeling. This meant the village would likely lose out on significant sums of tax revenue while the licensing issue remained unresolved.

The Illinois House of Representatives passed HB 1443 on May 25, which included a proposal by State Rep. Daniel Didech of Buffalo Grove (D-59th) to end Sunnyside’s impasse with the governor’s office and allow it to sell recreational cannabis at its new location in Buffalo Grove.

Didech earlier in the year introduced HB 619, which would have allowed Sunnyside to immediately begin sales of recreational cannabis in its new location. A compromise version of HB 619 was incorporated into the final version of HB 1443 and approved May 25 by the House with a bipartisan vote of 70-33.

Didech was happy to see Pritzker sign HB 1443. “Action by the governor will positively impact the lives of everyone who lives in and visits Buffalo Grove,” he said. “Because of this bill, our police will be better funded, there will be more resources to improve our local infrastructure, and there will be less pressure on local officials to raise our property taxes. This celebrates what we can do for the people of Illinois when state and local officials work together collaboratively to get things done.”

Didech’s district includes most of the Lake County portion of Buffalo Grove as well as portions of Vernon Hills, Mundelein, Wheeling, Lincolnshire, Riverwoods, Indian Creek and Park City.

 

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One response to “Recreational Cannabis Sales In Buffalo Grove Likely To Start By October”

  1. Joseph Friedman says:

    One correction to this article. Medical Cannabis has been sold in Buffalo Grove under the name PDI Medical, not Cresco Labs since 2015. Cresco Labs purchased PDI Medical towards the end of 2019.

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