People wait in long lines to buy legal marijuana in Collinsville and across Illinois
The line formed long before the Illinois Supply and Provisions marijuana dispensary opened its doors Wednesday for the first legal weed sales in the metro-east.
One customer, a 62-year-old business owner, said at least a few hundred people were already in line ahead of him when he arrived an hour before the dispensary opened.
It was the same scene across Illinois, as people headed to dispensaries to buy recreational marijuana on Jan. 1, the first day it was legal.
The 62-year-old at the dispensary in Collinsville asked not to be identified, in part because he doesn’t want to alienate potential customers for his business that installs flooring.
After decades in a job that can be hard on his body, he said he wanted to buy something for his pain Wednesday.
The first day of 2020 had been highly anticipated for many in Illinois — from baby boomers who remember smoking pot before the government declared the drug wasn’t safe to people who have waited to use cannabis for pain management in place of pills.
Now, anyone 21 years old or older can legally buy marijuana for recreational use in Illinois, the 11th state to legalize weed for people other than medical cannabis patients.
Long lines and some supply issues due to demand were expected across the state.
There’s only one place to buy marijuana in the metro-east for now
Illinois Supply and Provisions is the only local dispensary that opened its doors to the new weed customers on New Year’s Day. It’s a medical dispensary at 1014 Eastport Plaza Drive in Collinsville that received state permission to make recreational sales.
On Tuesday afternoon, the dispensary’s parking lot was closed off, and a sign stated: “No overnight parking.” Customers still arrived before the sun came up Wednesday.
By 5:30 a.m. Wednesday, a line wrapped around the Eastport Plaza Drive parking lot, which was still blocked off to cars, and down a nearby street, Executive Drive. People were bundled up in coats, hats and blankets. Some brought chairs to sit in while they waited.
The crowd near the doors cheered when the first customers were allowed inside at 7 a.m. Within the first hour of opening, one customer said the dispensary staff had reported they were sold out of a product: a variety of vape pen. Later, the store also sold out of one of the two strains of cannabis flower it had in stock.
The line of people was just as long in the afternoon. Chris McCloud, an Illinois Supply and Provisions spokesman, said the dispensary had 1,500 customers by about 5 p.m.
In the evening, the dispensary staff estimated how many more customers they could handle by 9 p.m., when the doors would close, and informed those in the back of the line they may not be able to purchase marijuana that day. Nobody left after hearing the news, according to Kathleen Olivastro, Illinois Supply and Provisions’ regional director. She said the customers decided to wait and see if they could make it before sales were cut off.
Customers are willing to wait to make first legal purchases
Customers in line got inside on a first-come, first-served basis unless they were medical cannabis patients, who moved to the front of the line if they showed a program registry ID card.
Keith Jennings, of St. Louis, was near the front. He said he got to the dispensary two hours before it opened.
“I stood in line three hours for a pair of tennis shoes,” he said. “This is nothing.”
Jennings said he also traveled to Denver and Las Vegas to buy marijuana when those states legalized weed before Illinois. His advice to people who might be visiting a dispensary for the first time is to know what they’re looking for, research the different strains of marijuana and shop around for the best price, if they can.
While the Collinsville site is the only marijuana store approved for recreational sales in the metro-east, the law says up to four will be permitted in the region. Other communities have approved local regulations in case a dispensary company wants to open there.
Robert Pitra, of Fairview Heights, said he came to the Collinsville dispensary Wednesday to see what the crowd was like and to get an alternative to the opiates he takes for pain.
Pitra said he was a truck driver before he retired, and after 30 years of unloading the truck by hand, he has back and shoulder pain.
Some things change after legalization, others stay the same
On New Year’s Eve, Gov. J.B. Pritzker pardoned thousands of low-level marijuana convictions across the state. In the metro-east alone, 1,004 non-violent, misdemeanor offenses related to weed were cleared.
“We are ending the 50-year-long war on cannabis,” Pritzker said in a statement released Tuesday. “We are restoring rights to many tens of thousands of Illinoisans. We are bringing regulation and safety to a previously unsafe and illegal market. And we are creating a new industry that puts equity at its very core.”
Even though it’s legal, employers and landlords will still be able to decide if they allow marijuana use.
A 27-year-old woman leaving the dispensary Wednesday asked not to be identified, fearing she could lose her job. She said she came out on New Year’s Day to be a part of history.
Her favorite part of the day was talking to people in line and seeing them get excited as they left with their products, she said.
Another customer, Wyatt Horne, of Shiloh, described it as “an experience.”
“It still feels like I’m doing something wrong and I’m getting away with it,” he said.
This story was originally published January 1, 2020 at 5:00 AM.
