Chicago Marijuana Dispensaries Close Indefinitely

Chicago Marijuana Dispensaries Close Indefinitely

Looters ransack city, dispensaries are high as targets

Looters armed with crowbars and baseball bats took aim at Chicago’s Mission South Shore marijuana dispensary during ongoing riots. The dispensary was supposed to be impenetrable.

Rioters smashed through the front door, taking everything of value, including, of course, marijuana. said Kris Krane, president and co-founder of 4Front Ventures. Closures might cause problems for medical patients.

“The store’s been pretty much ransacked,” said Krane, who watched security camera footage of 30 or 40 people breaking into the dispensary. “Nothing was going to hold that many people back."

All the staff members at Mission left before the looters arrived, Krane said. The dispensary shut down as neighboring businesses were looted and the situation appeared unsafe. Krane said they are still assessing how deeply the loss of inventory will affect customers and patients.

Marijuana dispensaries in Illinois have robust security systems, thanks to state regulations. Many dispensaries employ security guards, and have secured areas that customers must pass through before entering the showroom floor. Marijuana products are not allowed to be displayed and must be locked in a vault or secured room.

When looters on Saturday night shattered the windows and entered the Sunnyside dispensary in River North, which opened just last week, they did not penetrate the secure area and vault, where the cannabis is stored.

The unrest follows the death of Floyd, an unarmed black man, at the hands of a white Minneapolis police officer. City officials have drawn a distinction between the looters and the protesters.

Still, the unrest is striking an interesting chord in the marijuana industry, which has been criticized for being largely white-owned. Efforts to diversify the industry have been delayed because of the coronavirus.

Featured

New Products

  • 4K Video Decoder

    3xLOGIC’s VH-DECODER-4K is perfect for use in organizations of all sizes in diverse vertical sectors such as retail, leisure and hospitality, education and commercial premises.

  • Camden CM-221 Series Switches

    Camden CM-221 Series Switches

    Camden Door Controls is pleased to announce that, in response to soaring customer demand, it has expanded its range of ValueWave™ no-touch switches to include a narrow (slimline) version with manual override. This override button is designed to provide additional assurance that the request to exit switch will open a door, even if the no-touch sensor fails to operate. This new slimline switch also features a heavy gauge stainless steel faceplate, a red/green illuminated light ring, and is IP65 rated, making it ideal for indoor or outdoor use as part of an automatic door or access control system. ValueWave™ no-touch switches are designed for easy installation and trouble-free service in high traffic applications. In addition to this narrow version, the CM-221 & CM-222 Series switches are available in a range of other models with single and double gang heavy-gauge stainless steel faceplates and include illuminated light rings.

  • FEP GameChanger

    FEP GameChanger

    Paige Datacom Solutions Introduces Important and Innovative Cabling Products GameChanger Cable, a proven and patented solution that significantly exceeds the reach of traditional category cable will now have a FEP/FEP construction.