State marks milestone at dispensary ribbon cutting

CHAMPAIGN — A local dispensary marked the 100th "social equity" applicant to receive an adult use license from the state of Illinois.

The milestone was announced at a Friday morning ribbon cutting ceremony for The Dispensary’s new store in Champaign, located at 1826 Glenn Park Drive.

"We are very proud to have the honor," said principal officer Jeff Soenksen. "...We are very excited to join the Champaign community, and we look forward to being a partner in the community."

Erin Johnson, Cannabis Regulation Oversight Officer for the state of Illinois, said the social equity program was created to "repair the harms done by the war on drugs."

"Social equity was key to that, given that there are communities all across the state who have been disproportionately impacted by that war on drugs," Johnson said. "And the social equity program aims to solve that through giving out licenses to folks who would've been impacted or whose areas were impacted and giving them an opportunity to thrive economically and build generational wealth."

“From day one of legal cannabis sales in Illinois, my administration has been committed to making sure we don’t sacrifice a fair, equitable opportunity to join the industry – while also undoing decades of wrongs in the failed War on Drugs – just for the economic gains,” Governor JB Pritzker said in an official statement. “More than three years later, we’ve consistently learned and made our industry more accessible, while also seeing strong, consistent year-over-year revenue growth.”

Festivities at The Dispensary continued throughout the day on Friday and included a food truck from Maize, a glass blowing booth, and pop-ups from local cultivators.

The business had a soft opening on June 20 and is the third location for The Dispensary, which has shops in Fulton and East Dubuque.