Illinois Department of Agriculture OKs Cannabis Cultivation Center in Aurora
The Illinois Department of Agriculture has approved an Aurora site as a cultivation center that can grow cannabis for adult-use purposes in advance of Jan. 1 legalization.
Presently, only cultivation centers licensed to grow medical marijuana can apply for early approval adult-use growth. Social equity applicants will have additional opportunities to open cultivation centers in an upcoming phase.
Curative Health Cultivation, LLC in Aurora is among the 11 cultivation centers that have received an OK from the state. The others are:
- Cresco Labs, LLC — Lincoln
- Cresco Labs, LLC — Kankakee
- Cresco Labs, LLC — Joliet
- Nature’s Grace and Wellness, LLC — Vermont
- PharmaCann, LLC — Dwight
- PharmaCann, LLC — Hillcrest
- Revolution Cannabis, LLC (DBA Ascend Illinois) — Barry
- Wellness Group Pharms, LLC — Anna
- GTI Rock Island, LLC — Rock Island
- Compass Ventures, Inc. — Litchfield
Applications for licenses for craft growers, infusers and transporters will be available through IDOA beginning on Jan. 7. The application deadline is March 15, 2020.
According to an October article in the Chicago Tribune, Columbia Care was among the first medical marijuana growers in Illinois. Its standing had been challenged in court by a Lake County marijuana company, however, that claimed the center’s license to grow medical marijuana was improperly awarded.
An appellate court subsequently upheld the Columbia Care’s standing, and the company expects to have both medical and recreational products coming out of the center shortly after the start of 2020, the Tribune said.
According to a 2015 story in the Chicago Tribune, Curative Health, LLC is a national company with dispensaries and cultivation centers in several states.
SOURCE: state of Illinois news release