Use these insider tips to get in on the Green Rush.

Illinoisans with chronic postoperative pain, or C-POP, may soon be eligible for Illinois’ medical cannabis pilot program.

Cook County Circuit Court Judge Neil Cohen ruled Tuesday that Illinois Department of Public Health Director Nirav Shah improperly used his own study to deny the condition affecting thousands of Illinoisans to the state’s cannabis program. Cohen struck down the denial and ordered Shah to reconsider the condition using only the recommendations from his advisory board, which voted to include CPOP.

Cohen and other Cook County judges have ruled that the department must reconsider other conditions such as migraines and irritable bowel syndrome for the pilot program as well.

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.

Illinois officials posted new forms this week for doctors and patients in the state's medical marijuana program to reflect changes in the law, and announced Wednesday that July retail sales reached a new high at $2.9 million.

Gov. Bruce Rauner signed legislation last month extending the pilot program until July 2020 and adding two qualifying health conditions — post-traumatic stress disorder and terminal illnesses. Those changes are expected to further drive growth in the program, but won't be reflected in retail sales until next month.

Possession of small amounts of marijuana is now a civil offense across Illinois, punishable only by fines — not jail time.

Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner signed legislation decriminalizing small amounts of pot on Friday, after vetoing a bill last year that sought to allow slightly larger amounts.

Chicago has already joined more than 100 Illinois local governments in removing some criminal penalties for people caught with lesser amounts of marijuana. But the new law extends decriminalization to the entire state.

Supporters heralded it as a “commonsense” reform that will keep “countless citizens from having their lives turned upside down” by an arrest for using a drug “safer than alcohol.”

In a ruling that could significantly expand the use of medical marijuana in Illinois, a judge has ordered state officials to reconsider adding migraine headaches to the list of conditions that qualify a patient to buy the drug.

Cook County Circuit Court Associate Judge Rita Novak overturned Illinois Department of Public Health Director Dr. Nirav Shah's denial of a petition to add migraines to that list.

The judge ordered Shah to reconsider evidence presented to the Medical Cannabis Advisory Board before its members voted to recommend approval of marijuana to treat migraines.

When legal pot shops first opened up in America, there wasn’t a ton of thought given to retail design and aesthetics. Understandably so: Compared to the old pot-buying experience—stealthily purchasing a dime bag on the street corner or in the basement of your friendly neighborhood drug dealer—any store could look fancy and inviting.

Illinois’ medical marijuana pilot program had nearly 8,000 approved patients in early July, up from 4,000 patients at the beginning of the year according to the state Department of Public Health.

Lawmakers approved the pilot program in 2013 but legal cannabis sales to patients began Nov. 9, 2015.

Joe Friedman, co-owner of PDI Medical, a cannabis dispensary in suburban Buffalo Grove, said restrictive legislation slowed the growth of the program. “I think the program has been under a lot of pressure because we haven’t been able to approve new conditions, we definitely need to educate more patients and more doctors, but it’s a slow process.”

Medical marijuana experts say Illinois’ program needs 120,000 patients to support the industry.

Pot brownies may be a fun weekend treat for you, but for your dog they could be deadly. 

More "pot dogs" who've eaten raw marijuana buds, or pot edibles made with green butter like brownies, are visiting Chicago's animal emergency rooms, experts say. And as marijuana legalization becomes more common, vets are seeing more pot-sick dogs than ever. 

When dogs ingest marijuana, they typically become lethargic, have breathing problems and have trouble walking. The smaller the animal (and the more marijuana they ingest), the more severe the symptoms, including seizures.

Illinois must add post-traumatic stress disorder to the list of diseases eligible for medical marijuana treatment, a Cook County judge ordered Tuesday in a sternly worded ruling that also said the state's public health director engaged in a "private investigation" that was "constitutionally inappropriate."

In a lawsuit filed by an Iraq war veteran, Judge Neil Cohen ordered Illinois Department of Public Health Director Nirav Shah to add PTSD within 30 days. It's the first decision among eight lawsuits filed by patients disappointed with across-the-board rejections by Gov. Bruce Rauner's administration of recommendations from an advisory board on medical marijuana.

The health department is reviewing the judge's order, department spokeswoman Melaney Arnold said.