Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) holds up examples of edible hemp products for sale at stores in Chicago during a news conference at City Hall on Thursday. “This illegal, illicit industry has figured out a way to artificially enhance the THC in hemp by using synthetic additives,” Hopkins said. Kaitlin Washburn/Sun-Times Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) is pushing to regulate hemp sales in the city as new research finds that the potency of hemp-derived products is often mislabeled, posing a threat to unsuspecting consumers. Hemp products don't face the same strict regulations imposed on the state's recre ..read more

Hemp products like edibles and flowers are not subject to the strict testing requirements of recreational cannabis. Adobe Stock image It’s hard to travel a few blocks in Chicago without coming across a store selling hemp-derived products offering feelings of relaxation or a weed-like high — from joints to edibles that look like kid-friendly treats. But unlike medical or recreational cannabis, the items aren’t regulated. A new study found such products, typically sold at smoke shops and gas stations, often have a higher potency than advertised and fail to mention which psychoactive substa ..read more

The building located at 605 N. Clark St. is the former home of The Rainforest Cafe. Brian Rich/Sun-Times A River North resident who helped tank a clouted weed firm’s bid to open a dispensary at the former Rainforest Cafe site has filed a complaint alleging the city’s former top lawyer engaged in misconduct while seeking zoning approval for the pot shop. Robert Brown pushed back on the plan for more than a year, organizing neighbors and filing a lawsuit that sought to reverse a decision by the city’s Zoning Board of Appeals granting approval to open the store at 605 N. Clark St. Brown has ..read more

A new THC-infused buffalo wing sauce is a collaboration between Good News cannabis brand and West Town restaurant the Fifty/50. Each 10-ounce container has 100 milligrams of THC and is for adults 21 and over. Cresco Labs Watching the Super Bowl with a few buds? A new twist on a big game staple is sure to spark up some conversations. Good News cannabis brand and Chicago sports bar the Fifty/50 have teamed up to create THC-infused buffalo wing sauce, according to a news release from Cresco Labs, which is behind several weed brands, including Good News. “The Fifty/50 is all about bringing pe ..read more

Recreational weed products on display at a Sunnyside dispensary at 436 N. Clark St. in May of 2020. Sales statewide topped $1.6 billion in 2023. Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times Illinois pot shops sold more than $1.6 billion worth of recreational marijuana in 2023, the latest record year for the state’s budding industry.  That’s a 5% increase from licensed adult-use cannabis sales in 2022, according to figures released Thursday by the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.  Illinoisans bought more joints, gummies, flower and other weed products overall, too —  ..read more

The site of the former Rainforest Cafe on North Clark Street. The Chicago Zoning Board of Appeals approved an application by two pot firms to convert the restaurant site to a dispensary. Brian Rich/Sun-Times (file) A plan to transform the former Rainforest Cafe in River North into a pot dispensary has been scrapped by two marijuana firms. Mara Georges, an attorney who represented Progressive Treatment Solutions LLC and Bio-Pharm, confirmed the move in an email Wednesday morning. The news was first reported by the Chicago Tribune. The companies were facing two lawsuits seeking to block a d ..read more

The old Rainforest Cafe, 605 N. Clark St. Brian Rich/Sun-Times file A politically connected firm pushing to open dozens of pot shops in Illinois is suing to prevent a dispensary from opening in the former River North Rainforest Cafe — and to restrict how close minority-owned cannabis shops can be to one another. The lawsuit filed Monday in Cook County by GRI Holdings, a clouted firm with deep ties to state government, claims that the proposed Consume Cannabis dispensary at 605 N. Clark St. violates state law by opening within 1,500 feet of its Green Rose Dispensary at 612 N. Wells St. Bot ..read more

Marijuana products being purchased on Jan. 1, 2020 — the first day recreational marijuana was legal in Illinois. Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times file photo A City Council proposal that would give local alderpersons more sway over where cannabis businesses can open was met with resistance Wednesday from industry insiders, who complained it doesn’t give companies more options to set up shop. Under the ordinance introduced by downtown Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd), pot companies would no longer need special-use approval from the Zoning Board of Appeals, a process widely slammed as costly and time-consumin ..read more

Gov. J.B. Pritzker speaks at the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference in downtown Chicago on Thursday. Dave Struett/Sun-Times Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Thursday bragged that Illinois legalized pot in a way that repairs “past harms” of the war on drugs and should be a model for other states. “We built out the most equitable, accessible and prosperous cannabis ecosystem in the nation, and it’s one that helps repair our past harms,” Pritzker told a crowd gathered at the Benzinga Cannabis Capital Conference in downtown Chicago. Since pot was legalized in 2020 in the state by the Cannabis Regulati ..read more

Jeff Trout, general manager of Botanic Alternatives, arranges products in the shop in the Logan Square neighborhood. Pat Nabong/Sun-Times A City Council proposal would dramatically limit the sale of Delta-8 and other intoxicating, hemp-derived products that exploded in popularity after a federal law unintentionally allowed businesses to sell the weed-like substances without regulations. Downtown Ald. Brian Hopkins (2nd) said he plans to introduce an ordinance at Thursday’s City Council meeting to address “a public health crisis” that has emerged as sales of the trendy substances have ramp ..read more