CHAMPAIGN — A local dispensary was celebrated as the 100th “social equity” applicant to receive a 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, the stat’s cannabis regulation oversight officer, said the social-equity program for licenses 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 1 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