Illinois extends deadline for craft growers

Illinois regulators have extended the operating period for some artisanal cannabis growers in the state.

The state Department of Agriculture said that its administrative regulations “allow craft growers to obtain an extension of service for cause at the discretion of the department” and as such “granted an extension of service to all craft grower license holders due to a number of factors including the ongoing impact of Covid-19.” and supply chain issues.”

Under the state cannabis program for adult use, an “artisan grower’s license allows the holder to grow, dry, cure, and package cannabis,” according to Illinois Cannabiz Attorneys, who provide an introduction to the license:

“To apply for this license, you have to submit a completed application to the Department of Agriculture. The amount of cannabis a licensee can grow is limited by square footage. A craft grower can have up to 5,000 square feet of canopy space for flowering marijuana plants. It should be noted that this space includes only the space occupied by the works and does not include aisles or walkways between works. This amount may be increased in increments of 3,000 square feet over time based on the department’s determination of market needs, capacity and the licensee’s compliance history. The largest area allowed by the Department is 14,000 square feet for flowering plants.”

The Department of Agriculture said it had “previously approved an extension to the operational deadline for 2021 craft growers that required them to be operational by March 1, 2023,” but that it “now approves an additional extension required for all 2021 craft growers.” applies and its period of operation is extended to February 1, 2024.”

Legal adult cannabis sales went into effect in Illinois in 2020, the result of a bill signed into law by Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker the previous year.

“As the first state in the nation to fully legalize adult use through the legislative process, Illinois exemplifies the best of democracy: a bipartisan and deep commitment to improving the lives of all our citizens,” Pritzker said at the time . “The legalization of adult-use cannabis brings an important and long-overdue change to our state, and it is the right thing to do. This legislation will erase the cannabis-related records of nonviolent offenders through an efficient combination of automatic deletion, governor’s pardons and individual judicial procedures. I am so proud that our state is at the forefront of equality and justice in its approach to cannabis legalization and its regulatory framework. Because of the work of the people here today and so many others in our state, Illinois is walking forward with empathy and hope.”

Since then, the state has not looked back. In his State of the State speech last month, Pritzker said that marijuana legalization “has created more than 30,000 jobs since 2020 and Illinois is home to the most diverse cannabis industry in the country and some of the largest corporations.”

In January, the Pritzker government announced a record year for cannabis sales in 2022, saying that “adult cannabis dispensaries sold $1,552,324,820.37 worth of products, an increase of more than 12% from 2021 and 131% from 2020, first year of cannabis sales became legal in Illinois.”

“When I signed the Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act in 2019, we set ourselves an ambitious goal: to create the most equitable and economically prosperous cannabis industry in the country. Our 2022 data shows we are well on our way to making this idea a reality,” Pritzker said in a statement in January. “Not only did we break our previous sales record by more than 12% for a total of more than $1.5 billion, we also saw the first of our adult social justice cannabis dispensaries open its doors for business – and paved the way for even stronger development in 2023.”