Buffalo Grove approves medical marijuana dispensary

Buffalo Grove officials cleared the way Monday for a medical marijuana dispensary to open in the village this fall.

Village trustees approved a special use permit allowing PDI Medical III LLC to operate in a 3,250-square-foot space at 1623 Barclay Blvd. in the Rogers Centre for Commerce East, just east of Milwaukee Avenue. It's expected to open by October.

PDI is one of three groups to receive a state license to sell medical marijuana in Lake County. Because all three initially planned facilities in the Mundelein area, PDI was directed by the state to relocate to another community.

Village President Jeffrey Braiman said he sees no reason for controversy surrounding the business.

"We have Walgreens and CVS. And they dispense narcotics with a lot less security, a lot less restrictions than you will be able to do here," he said.

"I unfortunately lost a sister-in-law a few years ago to ALS. Her life in the last few months and days would have been much, much better if she would have had this opportunity," Braiman added.

Under a development and operating agreement approved by trustees Monday, the dispensary will pay the village a fee equal to 1 percent of the first $2 million in gross receipts received from the sale of cannabis or cannabis-infused products, and 2 percent of revenues over $2 million. The fee is intended to offset any "extraordinary costs" the village could incur as a result of the dispensary.

PDI attorney Stuart Gimbel said the company has worked closely with Buffalo Grove Police Chief Steven Casstevens to coordinate security and make sure that facility is up to the police department's standards. He said the dispensary would be "perfectly located" in the center.

"We're going to be right next door to a chiropractor and yoga studio. There is a medical office on the other side, and there are other professionals in the building, including a law firm," Gimbel said.

PDI has gone out of its way to notify its future neighbors, he added.

"Everybody was very supportive of the locating of the proposed dispensary there, including the doctor next door to us and the chiropractor as well," he said.

The firm's chief operations officer, Joseph Friedman, said the facility will be run by pharmacists with access to Illinois' prescription monitoring program.

"We will be able to take a look at patients as they walk in," he said. "We can understand what their prescription habits are, if there has been any use or abuse."

Officials said the dispensary expects to have at most 2,000 customers. It will be open 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturdays.

Trustee Michael Terson quizzed PDI officials about how they would prevent its products from getting into the wrong hands.

They said the dispensary has a team that includes chief security officer Al Lopez, a former deputy chief of the Skokie Police Department, as well as a pair of FBI consultants.

PDI CEO Mark Mandel also noted that medical marijuana has a low level of THC, the component that produces the drug's high.

"For those who want to abuse it, they're going to get much more bang for their buck buying it on the street from the local dealer," he said.

Comments from the public Monday were favorable.

Steve Dennison, who was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis 10 years ago, said he expects medical marijuana to provide him some relief.

"The fact that these people are all pharmacists - and I can go to a store where I can talk to pharmacists, who probably have more knowledge than anybody else in this state that is going to sell this stuff - I think they can help me a lot more than anybody else," he said. "I'm just waiting for these facilities to open so I can get some relief on this."