January first will mark five years since recreational marijuana became legal in Illinois.
Long lines were seen on January 1st, 2020 as hundreds waited to get into dispensaries in Chicago and across Illinois.
Tiffany Chappell Ingram is the executive director of the Cannabis Business Association of Illinois.
The state went from zero to more than 239 dispensaries in five years, according to Ingram. The industry also employes more than 30,000 people.
However, Ingram said the cannabis industry is “extremely challenging” to be a part of.
“You have to remember, federally, it’s not normalized. So, what that means is that you don’t have normalized banking. Which means it’s very challenging to get capital, which is the life blood of any business,” she said.
State compliance regulations and taxes in Illinois, compared to states such as Missouri and Michigan, also make the industry challenging.
Illinois has grant and loan programs to social equity license holders.
CBAI is “focused on what are the sort of policies, decisions that are happening at the federal, state and local level that impact businesses,” Ingram said.
“I don’t think that most people know but there are over twelve different agencies in the state that have to do with the regulation of cannabis,” she added. “We are really laser focused on the decision makers and the policy to make sure that we have a thriving industry in Illinois.”
The Cannabis Research Institute launched earlier this year. It’s a joint effort supported by the state of Illinois and the city of Chicago and is part of the University of Illinois System.
The institute’s mission is to advance public knowledge about cannabis and hemp.
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