Illinois officials issued licenses Monday for medical marijuana dispensaries in Springfield and Collinsville but denied an application in Chicago’s Hyde Park.
HealthCentral’s Springfield site will be at 620 E. Adams St., walking distance from the Old State Capitol, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and the high-rise Hilton Springfield. Its Collinsville site is next to the state police district headquarters.
Company co-owner and Effingham attorney Matthew Hortenstine said he welcomed any extra scrutiny that may come with the locations, saying, “We’re going to be the poster child for how to do it right.”
HealthCentral initially had been listed as “disqualified” on documents from the administration of then-Gov. Pat Quinn. But when new Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration issued licenses for 52 dispensaries in February, it listed HealthCentral instead as being “on hold for further review.”
HealthCentral had applied for three cultivation center licenses but didn’t get any of them.
Media reports previously made much of the fact that the lobbyist for HealthCentral was Jack Lavin, Quinn’s former chief of staff. But Lavin’s contract with HealthCentral expired in January, and his involvement was never raised by regulators and had “absolutely nothing to do” with the licensing review, Hortenstine said.
HealthCentral also parted ways with former co-owner Ben Burkhardt, Hortenstine said. Burkhardt faced legal difficulties with the LivWell medical marijuana business he co-owned in Colorado, including a legal battle with business partners and a lawsuit claiming the company gave out marijuana edibles that got those who ate it high, despite claims it would not do so.
Neither regulators nor company officials would say why HealthCentral faced further review or what ultimately satisfied regulators, but Hortenstine noted that the company has new co-owners. He said the company has the $30,000 registration fee and $50,000 bond required for each facility and hopes to open for business in renovated buildings by late summer.
Also on Monday, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation disqualified, without explanation, the application of IL WelMed, which was seeking a dispensary in Hyde Park. It was listed in Quinn documents as having a low score, while Rauner officials had it under further review.
Regulators previously approved Harborside Illinois Grown Medicine as the only other applicant to run a dispensary in Hyde Park Township.
So far the state has issued licenses to about 2,000 patients with qualifying medical conditions, far below initial estimates.
