recreational cannabis

Since Illinois launched recreational marijuana sales a year ago Friday, the amount of dispensaries across the state have nearly doubled. When legal recreational marijuana sales began on Jan 1, 2020, there were 43 dispensaries across the state, now there are 78, according to the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation. Through November, total recreational marijuana sales in Illinois reached…

Recreational cannabis officially became for sale Thursday in Naperville with the grand opening of the city’s first adult-use cannabis dispensary. The former 3C Compassionate Care Center, located at 1700 Quincy Ave., has been rebranded as Rise Naperville by Green Thumb Industries Inc. The facility has been selling medicinal marijuana since 2016. “We believe that the public wants access to safe,…

Recreational marijuana sales are underway in one of Chicago’s biggest suburbs. NBC 5’s Chris Coffey reports

Perhaps it is a testimonial to the now-mainstream nature of cannabis in Illinois, that the latest dispensary in Chicago is just a stone’s throw from the Ohio street exit ramp into downtown. Oh, and there’s free parking. “You get off at Ohio street and there’s this big dispensary saying, ‘now open,’” said MOCA’s principal officer Doug Marks. “That shows...

Business is booming for the state’s budding marijuana industry, but plans to help those impacted by the war on drugs have been hampered by the pandemic. NBC 5’s Phil Rogers reports

The legal sale of marijuana during Illinois’ first full month of lockdown due to the coronavirus surpassed sales in two previous months, state officials announced Monday.

As most of Illinois stays at home to help prevent the spread of the novel coronavirus, cannabis dispensaries remain open in Illinois because the industry is considered essential. NBC 5’s Chris Coffey has the story.

For the first 12 days of the year, there were 11 cases of marijuana-only exposures in Illinois reported to the Illinois Poison Center. But what does that mean?

Kenosha police want to make sure the only green being brought over the Illinois-Wisconsin border is Packers gear.

Recreational marijuana will be legal in Illinois within weeks, but legal experts on Wednesday urged immigrants to exercise caution as marijuana use or cannabis-related jobs could mean repercussions including deportation.

Illinois has approved two more marijuana cultivation centers ahead of the start of legal recreational sales next year, officials announced Tuesday. The two sites, located in Albion and Shelbyville, brings the total number of cultivation centers in the state to 16, officials said. Initially, only cultivation centers that have been licensed to grow medical marijuana can able to apply for…

NBC 5 Investigates spent months unpacking information about the upcoming legalization of recreational cannabis and is unleashing that research in a new podcast. Phil Rogers reports.

NBC 5 Investigates spent months unpacking information about the upcoming legalization of recreational cannabis and is unleashing that research in a new podcast

NBC 5 brought a panel of cannabis experts together Friday to answer viewers’ questions ahead of the Jan. 1 legalization date for recreational marijuana.

Editor’s note: A panel of cannabis experts will answer your questions LIVE via an online chat from 3 p.m.-7 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 6. Get your questions ready and ask them here. No, you shouldn’t be ticketed for smoking weed in your own backyard or on your balcony in Chicago once recreational cannabis becomes legal in Illinois next year, the...

Editor’s note: A panel of cannabis experts will answer your questions LIVE via an online chat from 3 p.m.-7 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 6. Get your questions ready and ask them here. Legal weed is coming to Illinois but what exactly will be “legal” in the state? Chicago police put out an answer to that question this week. The department posted...

The Chicago Police Department posted a video with “things you should know” as recreational cannabis is legalized Jan. 1.

A Near West Side pot shop owned by clout-heavy businessman Perry Mandera was granted a license to sell recreational weed when sales kick off next month.  The Herbal Care Center, 1301 S. Western Ave., is the 30th weed store to obtain a dual-use license, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation said in a statement Tuesday. With less than…