North of Rochelle, a big building looms over the fields of corn. Soon, marijuana will be grown inside. One of 18 state-licensed marijuana cultivation centers, the facility is the second one run by Pharmacannis. In Dwight, the growing process has begun.
Cameras are not allowed inside.
Qualified medical marijuana patients will buy their products from a dispensary in an Ottawa strip mall. That dispensary will likely be one of the first to open since the Compassionate Care Act was signed by Gov. Pat Quinn.
"Everybody likes things that move fast, but this is a brand new industry. There's a number of people, a number of groups that all need to converge to get it up and running, and we're growing into it right now," Teddy Scott, Pharmacannis CEO, said.
Scott is a lawyer with a degree in molecular biophysics who, with his partners, saw this initially as a business opportunity, but have become fully invested in the medical need. They're also heavily invested financially to the tune of roughly $10 million. It's a gamble, especially when the number of patients signed up thus far is but a fraction of what was expected.
"It is, this is a long term play," Jim Champion, Medical Marijuana Advisory Board, said. "There are a lot of moving parts. A lot of regulation. We want to do it right."
Champion is a vet who was diagnosed with MS 27 years ago. He was the first to sign up for the program, and sits on its advisory board. He and his wife see it as a Godsend, but they and others who rallied Thursday want the governor to sign an extension to the four year pilot program. Without added time, their concern is that the licensed sellers may not regain their investments.
"They could raise the prices on the patients, and patients are going to wind up back on the streets, and there goes the program," Sandy Champion said.
