Illinois Awards $31.8M In Cannabis Loans To 95 Businesses Across State

State officials plan to award nearly $31.8 million in loans to 95 licensed cannabis businesses across the state as part of an ongoing effort to support operators facing high startup costs and help expand participation in the legal marijuana industry, state officials announced Monday.

The funding, announced by Gov. JB Pritzker and the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, is part of the third round of the Cannabis Social Equity Loan Program, which provides financial assistance to licensed craft growers, dispensaries, infusers and transporters working to launch or stabilize operations in the state’s growing cannabis market, according to a news release from the state's Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

Officials said the program is intended to help ease barriers to entry in the cannabis industry, including the high cost of licensing, construction and early operational expenses that have made it difficult for many new businesses to open and sustain operations.

The Illinois Cannabis Direct Forgivable Loan Program awarded a total of about $31.8 million in funding to 95 licensed cannabis businesses across the state in its third round, supporting a range of key license types within the regulated industry.

The program includes craft growers, which cultivate cannabis at a smaller scale; infusers, which process cannabis into products such as edibles and concentrates; transporters, which handle secure movement of cannabis between licensed facilities; and adult-use dispensaries, which sell cannabis directly to consumers. Craft grow licenses can receive up to $750,000, infusers and dispensaries up to $245,000, and transporters up to $50,000, according to the news release.

A full list of approved borrowers was released by the state and can be found here.

Unlike typical Illinois business aid that comes through tax breaks or infrastructure subsidies, the state’s cannabis loan program is funded entirely by the legal cannabis industry through retail taxes of up to 25% and licensing fees that can reach $60,000 for dispensaries and $100,000 for cultivation licenses, according to the Chicago Tribune. The program is limited to social equity licensees—business owners who have been impacted by past cannabis laws, live in communities disproportionately affected by drug enforcement, or who have hired employees from those groups.

Many members of the Illinois Independent Craft Growers Association have been trying to get businesses up and running, founder Scott Redman told the Chicago Tribune.

“It is significant because so few people got loans(previously) and financing has dried up since 2021,” he said. “So for some people this was the linchpin to their development.”

Dispensaries that have been rewarded $245,000 loans include:

• AuraLight in Aurora
• Nirvana dispensaries in Chicago
• Market 96 dispensaries in Chicago
• canAFarm in Lincolnshire
• Lova Hi Rise Dispensary in Hoffman Estates

The following applicants received received loans of $750,000 for craft growing companies: Strain Mason Urban Curations in Harvard and Bridge City Collective in Waukegan.

More via the Chicago Tribune