Medical marijuana is already available for sale in a local dispensary, and now, local cultivators have been given the green light to begin growing strains, according to Illinois Department of Agriculture.

While the region is still a few months away from seeing locally grown medical marijuana in the dispensaries, both cultivators in Southern Illinois — in Murphysboro and Anna — are beginning the process.

Tom Jennings, co-manager of Ieso, the cultivation center at Southern Illinois Airport, said there is a 23,000 square-foot greenhouse at the facility and the entire footprint of the building is 46,000 square feet.

If you spend any time on Facebook and/or have the slightest interest in cannabis related news, you will be aware that the Illinois Medical Cannabis Pilot Program (MCPP) is FINALLY up and running after an almost 2 year delay. Medical marijuana or cannabis, as we advocates like to call it, went on sale on November 9, for the first time in Illinois history. Those of us involved in making this happen are celebrating like it was Mardi Gras; new dispensaries are popping up all over the place with festive ribbon cutting ceremonies to mark history in the making.

Cannabis tech is beginning to bud in Chicago.

Following the long-awaited opening of several legal cannabis dispensaries earlier this month, many Chicagoans can finally buy the medical marijuana they need to help treat their qualifying medical conditions.

Medical marijuana has been legal in Illinois since 2014, but until very recently, patients had no place to legally buy the drug — even with their physician’s prescription.

The recent news has caused quite a bit of buzz — little of which was lost on Chicago’s tech community.

It’s been a couple of weeks since a handful of Illinois medical marijuana dispensaries started making legal sales to patients. It was a long, bumpy road for Illinois’ medical marijuana program up until that point. Despite having one of the most strict medical marijuana programs in the country, it still took considerable time and effort to get Illinois’ medical marijuana program to the point of providing legal, safe access to medical marijuana patients.

After the first week of sales, the numbers were released in regards to the amount of marijuana sold, the amount of money exchanged, and the average price of medical marijuana in Illinois. Per Fox 2 News:

The passage of the Illinois Compassionate Use of Medical Cannabis Pilot Program Act, which legalizes cannabis use by sufferers of certain debilitating medical conditions, has created concerns among health care providers, hospitals, health systems, pharmacies, nursing homes and other members of the health care community. Now, with some medical cannabis dispensaries expected to begin operations in the coming weeks, questions regarding the impact on providers have grown more pressing by the day. 

To help health care providers better understand their roles and responsibilities under the new Illinois law, we answer some of the most relevant questions below. 

Illinois State Police have issued a warning about a drug that's new to the Chicago area.

"Shatter" resembles a sheet of amber or brown glass and contains a high concentration of THC, the primary psycho-active chemical in cannabis.

Police say it's up to six times stronger than the average marijuana cigarette. Illinois state police say the drug can cause users to disconnect from reality.

Police arrested three people in Grundy County this summer for possessing shatter.

DANVILLE -- Marijuana has long been banned in many workplaces, but with medical marijuana now being legally dispensed in the state, many employers have questions. Tuesday, they got some answers.

There is still a lot of gray area and employers actually have a lot of flexibility in how they handle the law. A conference at Danville Area Community College was aimed at helping bosses figure out what's okay and what's not okay with marijuana use.

Medical marijuana use is not protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act, even by card-carrying patients since it's federally banned.

DANVILLE -- Marijuana has long been banned in many workplaces, but with medical marijuana now being legally dispensed in the state, many employers have questions. Tuesday, they got some answers.

There is still a lot of gray area and employers actually have a lot of flexibility in how they handle the law. A conference at Danville Area Community College was aimed at helping bosses figure out what's okay and what's not okay with marijuana use.

Medical marijuana use is not protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act, even by card-carrying patients since it's federally banned.

CHICAGO – Warning: Marijuana use during pregnancy and breast-feeding poses potential harms.

That message would be written on medical and recreational marijuana products and posted wherever they’re sold if the nation’s most influential doctors group has its way.

The American Medical Association agreed Monday to push for regulations requiring such warnings be written on medical and recreational pot products and posted wherever they’re sold. The decision was made based on studies suggesting marijuana use may be linked with low birth weight, premature birth and behaviour problems in young children.

Critics say evidence of harm is weak, but while advocates agree that more research is needed, they say erring on the side of caution makes sense.

Though it won’t be selling medical marijuana until December, an Andersonville medical marijuana dispensary opened Monday morning with a ribbon-cutting ceremony to welcome the public to come check out their operation, which likely will be the first in Chicago to dispense weed.

Zachary Zises, a co-owner of Dispensary 33, 5001 N. Clark St., expects to receive state licensing by Thursday and to begin selling medical marijuana to patients by the first week of December.

Kristie Zises, Zachary’s sister-in-law and CFO, said Dispensary 33 would be the first in Chicago to actually dispense marijuana.