In January of 2014, legislation allowing for the use of marijuana to treat certain health conditions took effect in Illinois. As of last Wednesday, the state government has been unable to find a bank to handle the state’s tax and fee collections from the medical marijuana industry.

CHICAGO (AP) -- The state of Illinois is having trouble finding a bank or financial services company to process the large amounts of cash it anticipates receiving for taxes and fees from the new medical marijuana industry.

The state treasurer's office received no response to an official solicitation published last fall, so Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs has started a formal process to find out why.

CHICAGO (AP) - The state of Illinois is having trouble finding a bank or financial services company to process the large amounts of cash it anticipates receiving for taxes and fees from the new medical marijuana industry.

The state treasurer’s office received no response to an official solicitation published last fall, so Illinois State Treasurer Michael Frerichs has started a formal process to find out why.

Potential bidders may not have known about the opportunity or may be concerned about legal questions, industry experts said. Such caution may stem from uncertainties specific to Illinois - including the marijuana pilot program’s 2017 expiration date and so-far low patient numbers, said Michael Mayes, CEO of Quantum 9, a Chicago-based marijuana industry consultant.

A Lake Forest couple is seeking City of Highland Park approval to open a medical marijuana dispensary using the license their company, Northshore Alternative Therapy LLC, was awarded by the state in February.

Andy and Veronica Hunt are proposing to open a dispensary in the Briergate Business District west of Route 41. They would lease a portion of a new building to be constructed by Kelev House 2 at 1460 Old Skokie Road, according to information provided to the city. The now-vacant lot south of Deerfield Road is located between an auto repair shop and offices.

Despite an ongoing national trend showing that acceptance of marijuana, particularly for medical use, is continuing to swing upwards, there are continued signs of a marijuana backlash in some states. This is affecting not only patients but the business community that aims to support them.

In Illinois, this could not be any better illustrated than the current trials and travails facing both. The unbelievably low number of patient registrations to date has led one company who had won a state license to return it. Green Thumb Industries, the original owner of the license, did not want to pay both the $200,000 registration as well as commit to the required $2 million escrow.

Balking at the concept of calling any use of marijuana “medical” delegates to the American Medical Association’s annual meeting in Chicago, IL, today nevertheless agreed that physicians who dispense it for therapeutic reasons should not be prosecuted.

Voting on a resolution originally entitled “Immunity from Federal Prosecution for Marijuana Prescribing” the delegates agreed to remove the term “medical marijuana” from the text of the resolution and to substitute “cannabis”. They also changed the word “prescribing” in favor of language that described the physician as recommending the substance to a patient.

“Marijuana is not recognized as medicine by the FDA or the AMA,” said Stuart Gitlow, MD, in pushing for the wording change.

With New York State beginning to accept applications for medical marijuana providers last week, criticism of the hyper-strict program negotiated by Gov. Andrew Cuomo has been plentiful. Hinged on concerns about arbitrary regulations and insufficient patient access, advocates for medical marijuana access worry the program will be too small and restrictive to be effective.

Two relatively new Illinois laws may cause unexpected headaches for businesses, but The Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce has scheduled a seminar intended to help ease the pain.

The state's concealed carry gun law is already more than a year old, but its medical marijuana pilot program is just getting started.

Attorneys with the statewide law firm Heyl Royster last year started presenting seminars on concealed carry and how it could affect both employers and employees.

Chrissie Peterson of Heyl Royster's Peoria office said businesses have reacted responsibly to the concealed carry law and have placed the appropriate signs on their doors if they don't want to allow guns.

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner has appointed an attorney from his staff to direct the state's medical marijuana program.

Rauner's office on Friday announced Joseph Wright has been named to head the program. He's currently assistant general counsel in the governor's office.

Wright succeeds Bob Morgan, who stepped down last month to go into private law practice.

Wright has already been working with the state agencies involved in the medical marijuana program as a liaison to their legal teams. He's also helped the governor's office with Freedom of Information Act requests.

It’s an industry, they say, that’s too new to have a glass ceiling. And for many women, that’s a good reason to get into the booming legal marijuana business.

“There is no such thing as an old boys’ network in a new industry,” says Wendy Berger Shapiro, co-founder of a group called Illinois Women in Cannabis.

Berger Shapiro started the professional networking group with attorney Dina Rollman last August to “get women at the starting line at the same time as the men,” Rollman says. “So they’re not playing catchup, and they’re leading the industry, shoulder-to-shoulder with the men.”

With Illinois having legalized medical marijuana, seriously ill people who qualify could be able to obtain legal weed as soon as this fall, some predict.