Medical Consumers In Illinois Push For Priority Status

Complaints from patients across the state prompted an advisory from the Illinois Department of Financial Professional Regulation for dispensary operations across the state on Friday. The complaint was directed at possible shortages of patients’ normal medical purchases, due to recreational sales.

New mandates from regulators state that a dispensary must leave a window open solely for medical sales. Dispensaries must not hold products back for recreational sales. Medical patients must be able to purchase 2.5 times the amount set by a dispensary, for any recreational sales. Cannabis supply for medical patients has eased somewhat, since the first of the year, in the Champaign – Urbana area of Illinois, as of this writing on February 7, 2020.

Access to medicinal cannabis has taken some ups and downs for the last couple of months. Patients are still being treated to first of the line service in the area as dispensaries try to keep up with the demand from recreational marijuana sales that started January 1, 2020.

The first day of recreational sales in the Twin Cities was robust and lines were wrapped around buildings. For hours, potential customers stood in inclement weather to be part of history. Most were happy to just wait patiently for their turn at purchasing marijuana, which has been illegal in this state, except for people with certain conditions, until now.

Medical patients were directed to the front of the line in order to have access to plenty of medicinal choices.

Cresco Labs, which is the operator of Sunnyside dispensary in  Champaign Il has been able to offer its medical patients a limited, though steady amount of offerings since the first of the year. NU Med dispensary in Urbana, Il has had similar effects on the demand for cannabis being played out.

The supply for both medical cannabis and recreational has varied in the one plus months since the beginning of recreational sales. Some days, sales are only open to medical patients to keep a supply for their demand intact.

The following shows the supply for medical cannabis for the current day of February 7, 2020. These two cannabis dispensaries are the only two currently operating in this east central Illinois area.

Sunnyside Dispensaries listed on their medical menu the following:

• Flower 19

• Concentrates  8

• Edibles  90

• Topical 14

• Vapes 89

• Tincture 5

Unique items included tonics, cereal, teas, and bath salts

NuMed dispensary offerings were:

• Flower 2

• Concentrates

• Edibles 78

• Topical 12

• Vapes 72

• Tincture 2

• Tablet & Capsules 14

Some of their unique offerings include oatmeal, teas, body oil, and suppositories.

It is yet to be seen if these new regulations will help to ease the cannabis demand, for medical patients. Putting your states medical patients first is a step in the right direction for helping to alleviate the pain of some 100,000 patients in the state.