City inspectors flood weed dispensaries in advance of legalization

City inspectors visited Chicago’s 11 cannabis dispensaries this week for routine checks in preparation for fully legalized weed at the start of the new year.

Investigators with the Department of Business Affairs and Consumer Protection were joined by Chicago police and fire officials at five sites Thursday and the other six Friday. They were checking each dispensary’s compliance with public way permits, licenses for sale of non-cannabis products, zoning conditions, building code provisions, fire safety and also looked for any public safety issues.

After a check at MOCA Modern Cannabis, 2847 W. Fullerton Ave., BACP Commissioner Rosa Escareno said only minor violations had been found during the 11 inspections with a few citations handed out.

“The dispensary management and owners are being informed of what is required today but also to prepare them for Jan. 1 where you’re going to be seeing the legalization of sales,” Escareno said.

“Where we’re finding violations, citations are being issued,” she said. “In other cases we may issue notices to correct, which means the locations will be given time to come into compliance. But again, those will be non-life-safety type violations.”

An example of a citation a dispensary could’ve received was if they were selling non-cannabis-related products but didn’t have a general business license, Escareno said.

BACP officials wouldn’t say how many citations have been issued through the two days of checks, but more details will be released next week after inspectors go through all the necessary documentation.

The inspections are standard across all types of Chicago business and aren’t specific to weed shops, they added.

“Recreational cannabis dispensaries will be held to the same standards as other businesses throughout the city,” Escareno said. “The residents and visitors should feel confident that the city is taking all the proactive steps and measures to ensure that these businesses will be operating responsibly on Jan. 1.”