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* Sun-Times…
State officials on Friday announced that a fourth lottery for cannabis dispensary licenses will now be held to give six applicant groups a chance to win additional permits after they were wrongfully excluded from drawings in an earlier lottery.
The latest development in the convoluted and acrimonious pot shop licensing process came just before the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation announced the final list of winners of the next 185 permits, which still can’t formally be issued due to a Cook County judge’s order.
Toi Hutchinson, Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s senior adviser on cannabis control, explained in a call with reporters that a “clerical oversight” led to some groups having less chances than they deserved and others having more shots in the July 29 lottery. The errors affected the drawings for five of the 17 regions where the licenses are designated.
The new lottery aims to give the affected firms the same odds of winning they would have had in the initial drawings, although it wasn’t immediately made clear how those odds will be determined. Additional licenses will be issued to the winners, but officials didn’t say how many could be dished out.
* Tribune…
At each step on the way, as regulators discovered errors, they acted to correct them, Hutchinson said, describing the process as a marathon, not a sprint.
“It’s been painful to watch how long this has taken,” she said. “As we move forward. this could get better every single year.”
* From a state press release…
Only six applicants did not receive the correct number of entries. The additional lottery will not impact applicants who were selected for the opportunity to be issued a conditional license in the previously held lotteries.
…Adding… Center Square…
Cannabis sales for the month of August dipped $5.8 million from the month before, bucking a consistent trend, but the governor’s lead advisor for the industry said things will continue to evolve.
In July, nearly $128 million of adult-use cannabis was sold. The following month, $122 million was sold. The only other declines month to month were in February 2021 and 2020, and a slight decline from October to November 2020.
It’s unclear if demand has peaked. Before Augusts’ sales numbers were revealed, Toi Hutchinson, the senior advisor for cannabis control to Gov. J.B. Pritzker, said that is something the law she helped craft as a state Senator requires review.
“The biggest thing is we designed this to study at every step of the way so that we could try to make the best policy decisions we could make with no breadcrumbs from any other state,” she said.
She couldn’t say what the ceiling was for sales.
“I could not even begin to tell you,” Hutchison said. “I will tell you that in February we surpassed liquor tax money.”
posted by Rich Miller
Friday, Sep 3, 21 @ 3:19 pm
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Competence is not this Administration’s strong suit.
Comment by phocion Friday, Sep 3, 21 @ 3:21 pm
In the meantime, the existing dispensaries behave like the monopolies they are.
Comment by Furtive Look Friday, Sep 3, 21 @ 3:40 pm
At some point, Illinois goes beyond farce. I mean, I was a local government employee, and stuff happens, but this is just unbelievable that no matter what the state tries to do with the dispensaries, they find a way to do it wrong yet again. It never ends. Who checks the work? Who verifies the formula before they re-grade the scores wrong yet again? Why does basic competence escape Illinois so badly in so many ways??
Comment by thisjustinagain Friday, Sep 3, 21 @ 3:58 pm
“muck up”
It’s all mucked up.
Comment by Grandson of Man Friday, Sep 3, 21 @ 3:59 pm
It’s actually unbelievable at this point. Who will be accountable?
Comment by McGuppin Friday, Sep 3, 21 @ 4:00 pm
Just give one to everybody that wants one.
Will be easier in the long run.
Comment by Bruce( no not him) Friday, Sep 3, 21 @ 4:01 pm
I wonder if JB is figuring out after Hutchinson and Chapa LaVia that tapping into the General Assembly for roles within his administration was a bad decision.
Comment by JSS Friday, Sep 3, 21 @ 4:12 pm
Just your common run of the mill Illinois law. General Assembly passes a monster bill, doesn’t appropriate enough money to hire the right number of people to effectuate it. A bunch of State employees are asked to do two or three jobs, result is the law isn’t enacted the way it was intended. General assembly members need to be mandated to work a state job for a year before they get to vote
Comment by Merica Friday, Sep 3, 21 @ 4:13 pm
12,000 liquor licences processed each year.
27,000 tobacco licenses
and how many Cannabis licenses? 75? Growers licenses? Not nearly enough.
Hope we can match the recent increase by USDA in the amount of THC in hemp before it is required to be destroyed. Those old limits are pretty non-science based. No One is smoking ditch weed.
Comment by Al Friday, Sep 3, 21 @ 4:15 pm
It’s pretty clear… you can’t make uncaught clerical errors on stuff like this. Check it, recheck it, recheck it again. Get it right, it’s important to the applicants and even more important to the Governor who can’t look like his administration is being run by a bunch of unfocused and inept bureaucrats. Just get it right, and make sure you get it right. Otherwise - no one trusts the work you do. There is too much of this in the Pritzker administration.
Comment by Lincoln Lad Friday, Sep 3, 21 @ 4:23 pm