Illinois: Medical marijuana grows under strict conditions as industry expands

In a warehouse in Joliet, hundreds of marijuana plants sway under high-intensity lights, taking in carbon dioxide-rich air, sucking up a constant feed of nutrients and bristling with buds.

Like Olympic athletes, the plants are rigorously trained and intensively pampered. Tiny predator bugs patrol the surface of the vegetation, hunting down any pests. Workers prune stems and leaves to put all the plants' energy into buds that produce the drug's euphoric and medicinal effects. The process churns out 200 pounds of high-grade pot every month.

The grow house at Cresco Labs is one of 19 cultivation centers in Illinois authorized by the state to produce medical cannabis. The facilities generally had been closed to the media until Wednesday, when reporters were allowed an unprecedented tour of the growing operation.

The look inside the state's secretive program comes as the struggling medical marijuana industry in Illinois is poised to grow. Last...

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