Lawmakers move to extend medical marijuana program past 2017
Illinois' fledgling medical marijuana program could get a longer tryout than originally expected.
The law that allows the drug to be sold legally in Illinois is set to run out at the end of 2017, four years after it took effect. But with less than two years ago, no medical marijuana has been sold legally in Illinois because of bureaucratic hurdles.
The Illinois House Tuesday voted to extend the program, proposing it should expire four years after the first dispensary gets up and running. The plan now moves to the Senate, but Gov. Bruce Rauner has said he's not sold on the idea.
State Rep. Lou Lang, an Evanston Democrat, said that because growers and dispensaries still haven't opened, the state won't have much time to evaluate the program once they do.
Before dispensaries can start selling marijuana in Illinois, growers have to get up and running and prepare the product, so the availability of legal cannabis in the state could still be months away.