The state gave four more medical marijuana dispensaries permission to sell recreational weed, starting Jan. 1.
That brings the total number of dispensaries allowed to sell recreational weed next year to 32, including nine in Chicago.
The stores include Midway Dispensary in Chicago, Seven Point in Oak Park, and Zen Leaf's locations in Chicago and St. Charles.
Illinois has 55 medical cannabis dispensaries, and all were able to apply for a license to sell recreational marijuana from those locations. They can also apply to open a second shop, but the state has not started to award those second-site licenses yet.
In Chicago, marijuana stores will not be allowed along the Magnificent Mile, the Loop or large chunks of River North along the lakefront. Chicago's recreational cannabis rules created seven zones for marijuana sales. Initially, no more than seven dispensaries will be allowed in each zone.
Municipalities may vote to ban recreational cannabis sales, and if that occurs, the state approval is moot. Residents of communities such as Naperville and Arlington Heights, for example, will have to go to a different town to legally buy weed.
