For marijuana connoisseurs, we’re reaching nirvana in Lake County — A pot shop in nearly every community.
The latest to join the lottery for a slice of the cash blooming from Satan’s lettuce is tiny and mostly rural Wadsworth. “The Village of Country Living,” as it’s known locally, is in line for two recreational marijuana dispensaries.
If approved by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, the dueling cannabis businesses, Nature’s Grace and Goodies, will be the closest dispensaries to Wisconsin stoners. According to Steve Sadin’s front-page News-Sun story late last month, currently two sites in eastern Lake County in Waukegan’s Fountain Square entertainment zone — Ivy Hall and Planet 13 — are the closest to the Badger State.
With a state cannabis license and the OK from Wadsworth officials after going through the planning process, the two new dispensaries would be about a hop, skip and a jump from the Kenosha County line. Nature’s Grace plans to open its space at an under-construction building on the northeast intersection of Routes 41 and 173; Goodies close by at the old Hi-Way Sales auto recycling center, whose sizeable 15 acres fronts on Route 41, south of Route 173.
There was a time when that part of northern unincorporated Wadsworth was known as Fossland, where Illinoisans on their way to visit relatives in Wisconsin or heading to vacation spots in the Northwoods would stock up on margarine which was banned in the Dairy State. “Last stop for oleo,” blared the huge billboards posted by the Foss family, which also lured Wisconsinites sneaking south of the border.
The new high times for Wadsworth will put the oleo stampede to shame according to data from the IDFPR, which oversees and regulates the state’s exploding cannabis industry. Perhaps the two bud stores will be open by April 20, the day when doobies are lighted across the U.S. in a nod to legalization.
Surely, village officials will tax products sold at the proposed stores once they are up and running. That’s the only reason to site a pot shop in a community.
There’s long green to be made from selling and taxing grass in Illinois. The original idea behind Illinois legalizing recreational cannabis use was to spread economic development wealth across the state, especially among those communities impacted by draconian pot laws.
Unsure if Wadsworth qualifies in that regard, but being so close to the border, that may be overlooked. Especially considering Wisconsin lawmakers don’t seem to favor legalization despite annual attempts to do so.
The herb that once panicked Americans with “reefer madness” became legal in Illinois with the start of medical marijuana sales in 2015, and recreational use in 2020. Since then, the future of the industry in the Land of Lincoln has been euphoric.
The IDFPR sees unprecedented growth in fiscal year 2024, with plans to issue 55 more cannabis conditional licenses. That’s a sizeable growth from the previous fiscal year when 28 new dispensaries opened for business.
According to the agency, FY2023 saw more than $1.5 billion total dispensary sales. In that period, almost 75% of all cannabis sales went to in-state residents. It’s a share of that 25% of out-of-state sales for which Wadsworth and Waukegan will be vying.
In February, the last month of figures available, sales amounted to $135.5 million, with in-state sales of more than $104.5 million and out-of-state just over $31 million. In February 2023, total sales were $127.9 million.
Add those totals to surreptitious and underground weed sales, which undoubtedly continue as buyers seek to evade sales taxes from the state and municipalities. Overall, that’s a lot of pot products being sold and some $451.8 million in state taxes collected in the last fiscal year, according to the IDFPR.
Perhaps Wisconsin lawmakers pushing for legalization will eventually persuade their colleagues to see what the state is missing in revenue. Polling data has shown support grows across the state over the last decade, with nearly 70% of voters now telling pollsters they favor legalization.
Supporters point to benefits for Wisconsin agriculture, something Illinois growers, mainly downstate, have discovered. One Democratic lawmaker told her colleagues that legalization would bring hundreds of millions of dollars in state revenue, with the potential of billion dollars in economic stimulus, according to a recent Associated Press account.
With that in mind, perhaps Wadsworth will be a stop on what some quick-thinking entrepreneur could label a Cannabis Crawl. Bright green trolleys/buses moving from dispensary town to dispensary town — similar to an Ale Trail — with participants sampling merchandise at each location.
Which is the type of happiness true bud-filled enlightenment can bring.
Charles Selle is a former News-Sun reporter, political editor and editor.
sellenews@gmail.com
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