Illinois rang in the 2020 new year by becoming the ninth state to have legal recreational marijuana sales. Customers lined up before dawn at each of the 37 recreational marijuana dispensaries in Illinois in anticipation of making history as the first to buy legal pot in the state.
Shortly after 6:00 am on Wednesday, the first purchase in Illinois was made by Renzo Mejia, a West Loop resident, at Dispensary 33 in Chicago’s Uptown neighborhood on the North Side. He purchased an eighth ounce of Motorbreath OG strain as customers and employees cheered and embraced.
“To be able to have [recreational cannabis] here is just mind-boggling. To be able to now make the first purchase in Chicago, it’s just surreal,” Mejia told the Chicago Sun-Times.
Mejia arrived at the store to start the line at 11:30 pm on new year’s eve and waited six hours in the freezing temperatures to be first. Eventually, about 500 people were in line, which stretched over two blocks. Lines were long at all locations, with many dispensaries running out of products for recreational sale because they had to reserve enough product for their existing medical customers. But despite the long lines and the winter cold, the mood was celebratory.
Line at Columbia Care on NW Side of Chicago, Jan. 1, 2020.
At Zen Leaf on the city’s Northwest Side, the line had shortened to about 45 minutes long around 4:20 pm, but a manager came out to tell the waiting customers that they only had one type of pre-rolled joint and another type of vape cartridge remaining for recreational sales. Despite his warning, no one left the line as they all opted to stay to make their historic purchase on the first day.
John K., of Chicago, walked out with his purchase at Zen Leaf and said, “It was an awesome experience. The people in there are so nice and helpful. I’m 48 years old and it was incredible, but also weird buying it in a store. Most of my life, I’ve had to meet dealers in back alleys and all over the place and now I can just walk into a store and buy it. It’s so weird and great at the same time.”
After all was said and done, over 77,000 people in Illinois lined up and spent $3.2 million on the first day alone. Illinois was the first state to legalize recreational cannabis via the state legislature as opposed to a direct ballot initiative by voters, which happened in all other states to legalize so far. Governor J.B. Pritzker signed the bill into law less than six months ago, delivering on one of his signature campaign promises.
The state’s 55 existing medical pot shops were the first to have an option to become recreational. However, while marijuana is legal for all over 21 statewide, local municipalities had the option to opt-out or delay recreational sales in their communities. That is why not all medical dispensaries were able to sell to recreational customers on the first day. By next year at this time, the number of recreational pot shops in Illinois is expected to more than double as another 75 recreational sales licenses will be issued by the state.
