Like many states with cannabis programs, Illinois has been at work making accommodations during the current epidemic. Illinois’s Department of Financial and Professional Regulation’s updated procedures and policies regarding marijuana sales and has offered guidance and guidelines to help dispensaries navigate updated methods of operation. However, while states like Nevada and Michigan have authorized deliveries and acknowledged the benefit of delivery service in helping protect those at risk and slow the spread of the virus, Illinois has not allowed for such delivery to keep the spread of the virus to a minimum.
In the guidance, the Department notes that medical marijuana transactions can now occur outside the dispensaries’ limited access areas until March 30, 2020, allowing for curbside service. But the allowance must follow the new guidelines related to operations (recreational sales must still take place in the inside the dispensaries’ limited access areas).
More from the guidance:
- The IDFPR notes that at least 8 dispensaries that were performing both medical and adult use (recreational) have voluntarily suspended recreational sales and others are implementing medical-only hours.
- Dispensaries must ensure that those patrons inside their establishments remain six feet from one another. Efforts like moving lines outside or closing down some POS systems and restricting distance from agents are recommended.
- Dispensaries are advised to sanitize thoroughly washing and disinfecting surfaces.
From the guidelines:
- The exchange of cash and product must take place on the dispensary’s property or on a public walkway or at the curb of the street adjacent to the dispensary. Dispensaries may not deliver cannabis to a patient or caregiver’s home.
- The patient or caregiver’s card must be scanned prior to purchase and the purchase must be tracked in the state traceability system.
- The dispensary may take measures to protect agents and patients alike by not requiring patients and caregivers to physically hand their medical cannabis ID card to agents to be scanned, wearing gloves when handling cash, and giving employees frequent breaks to wash their hands thoroughly.
- Cash must be taken into the dispensary after each transaction.
- Security must be present for outdoor exchanges.
You can read the Department’s guidance letter on cannabis dispensaries during COVID-19 here. And you can read the guidelines emplaced by the department for sales here.