ILLINOIS (WAND) - Cannabis dispensaries received new state guidelines meant to keep people safe during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Officials with the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation said sales of medical cannabis to medical cannabis patients and OAPP participants can happen outside a limited access area until March 30 if certain guidelines are followed. Click here to read them.
Medical cannabis can be sold on a dispensary's property or on a public walkway or curb adjacent to the facility. Patients needing medical cannabis will be able to have their designated caregiver purchase cannabis for them, but dispensaries are told they can't deliver medical cannabis to a patient or caregiver's home.
Adult-use cannabis sales must still happen inside the limited access area. According to IDFPR, at least eight Illinois dispensaries voluntarily suspended adult-use cannabis sales. Others have implemented patient-only hours.
“Our top priority is to minimize the risk of and protect as many people from exposure to COVID-19,” said Toi Hutchinson, senior advisor for cannabis control to Gov. JB Pritzker. “These steps prioritize that critical objective, while also ensuring medical patients have access to the medicine they need.”
Dispensaries are required to take steps to make sure customers stay at least six feet away from each other. They are also required to follow sanitation guidelines, including allowing employees to wash hands frequently each day.
Surfaces patients must touch are required be cleaned every 30 minutes, and all other surfaces must be cleaned at least once every day.
See the PDF document attached to this story for more details about these guidelines.
