SPRINGFIELD — The Illinois Senate on Thursday passed a bill that would extend the state’s pilot medical cannabis program to 2020.
The current pilot program will end on Jan. 1, 2018 if the bill doesn’t make it through the Illinois House. The measure, sponsored by State Sen. William Haine, D-Alton, would extend the program an additional two years to July 1, 2020.
Haine’s bill passed the Senate 34-11 on Thursday.
“This is to provide some stable view of terrain to those who are investing in the growing of the cannabis as well as the dispensaries,” Haine said on the Senate floor, adding many stakeholders were unsure about the program’s stability in Illinois.
Sen. Dale Righter, R-Mattoon, pointed out both the Illinois Department of Public Health and the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget are opposed to the legislation, so it’s unclear whether Gov. Bruce Rauner would support the pilot program’s extension if it makes it through the House.
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