Suffering from epilepsy, seizures and glaucoma, Robert McCarthy came to the Worth Village Hall on Thursday night to find out how and when he and others would be able to obtain medical marijuana in the Southland.
“I am a big advocate of it,” McCarthy, of Palos Heights, said. “I have already found a doctor to prescribe it. Now we just have to wait for the product.”
But he and others who qualify for Illinois’ medical marijuana pilot program will have to wait a few more months.
McCarthy was among about 35 people who attended the first education seminar on medical pot hosted by Steve Weisman, chief executive officer of Windy City Cannabis, the company that will operate the four dispensaries in the Southland — located in Worth, Homewood, Justice and Posen.
Feliza Castro, the CEO and founder of The Healing Clinic, a patient advocacy group, joined Weisman in hosting the session, the first of four that Weisman intends to hold, one in each of the four towns.
The audience was told that all the dispensaries and the 18 growing centers statewide have the green light to proceed. But the medical marijuana crop will not be ready to harvest until January and will not reach the retail shops until February, according to Krista Sampson, education coordinator with Cresco Labs, in Chicago, which owns three cultivation centers in Joliet, Kankakee and Lincoln.
Under the state law authorizing the program, the shops are only allowed to purchase marijuana from the state-licensed growing sites. Because those centers have yet to set a wholesale cost, Weisman said he cannot predict what the retail cost will be for any of the products.
“Once the wholesale price is set we will be able to set a retail price, which will be fair and will enable us to keep the lights on,” he told those in attendance, adding that there will be discounts for veterans and those who qualify under the state’s Benefit Access Program for low-income disabled persons and senior citizens.
The medical pot shops will be cash-only shops with an ATM machine inside. The dispensaries are working with banks “so we won’t have the problem Colorado has where they have a ton of cash and don’t know where to store it,” Weisman said.
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Several participants were concerned about insurance reimbursement by Medicare and Medicaid.
“Medicare and Medicaid will never fund it because it is still (classified as) a Schedule I level substance (by the federal government),” Castro said. “And for private insurances, it is very tricky.”
Windy City Cannabis’ four shops will be at 11425 Harlem Ave., Worth; 1137 W. 175th St., Homewood; 8340 Roberts Road, Justice; and 2535 Veterans Drive, Posen. they will serve residents of Bloom, Bremen, Calumet, Lemont, Lyons, Orland, Palos, Rich, Stickney, Thornton and Worth townships — but not before patients go through a lengthy process to obtain their Medical Cannabis Registry Identification Card.
The Healing Clinic helps people with the registration process to become approved as a medical marijuana patient, Castro said. She said the process includes background checks, fingerprinting and paperwork, and her group also will keep a list of doctors who are willing to prescribe medical pot to patients.
Castro said only patients or caregivers who have the registry ID card will be able to purchase marijuana from the dispensaries. Under the law, a patient must have one of 39 qualifying illnesses that include cancer, glaucoma, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, lupus, AIDS and Parkinson’s, Crohn’s and Alzheimer’s diseases, among others.
Castro said the registry cards, which can only be used in Illinois, have not been mailed to those who are registered but will be sent closer to when the marijuana becomes available.
“It’s a waiting game at this point,” she said.
Patricia Trebe is a freelance reporter.