Security a focus for medical marijuana cultivation centers, dispensaries

CHICAGO (WLS) -- It is still cold right now, but spring planting season is just around the corner in Illinois - and one of the crops being planted will be marijuana that will be dispensed under the Medical Cannabis Pilot Program.

Twelve acres of trees just outside of Joliet, adjacent to the Centerpoint Intermodal Complex, will soon grow a cultivation center for medical marijuana.

"So we expect to have a shovel in the ground in 30 days," said Joe Caltabiano, president of Cresco Labs.

Cresco Labs won licenses for three of the state's 18 new cultivation centers. The one that will go in Joliet will be 40,000 square feet. It's medical pot that will be delivered to state-licensed dispensaries.

But it is all a process that begs questions of security.

"We'll have armed security guards, over 140 cameras, fences, bio-metric access," Caltabiano said. "Security is by far the biggest concern the state had in the applications."

The same is true for the state's 60 dispensaries. One of which, a former pizza restaurant in the 5000-block of N. Clark Street in Andersonville, got its final green light from the city Friday.

Cameras, motion detectors, keycard entry, lock boxes biometrically-controlled. Those who can legally buy for medical purposes will be walked to their cars by an armed security guard.

"The amount of effort that they're going to, and it's impressive what they are doing, but it also proves my very point that they're worried about the threat of crime as well because they're making these kinds of investments," said John Zappa, a dispensary opponent.

The threat of crime is a turn-off to some. Although a Lakeview location in the 2800-block of Halsted won a state license, its needed local zoning was rejected. For Caltabiano, a Leukemia survivor, there is a green light to grow - mindful that this is all a pilot program.

"There's certainly a high degree of risk and we hope the state sees the benefits, and that Cresco labs can help forge through the pilot and make this a lasting program for Illinois," Caltabiano said.

Those who won medical marijuana cultivation licenses are investing millions of dollars into a Compassionate Care Act that has no guarantees. And it may be a year yet before those eligible are actually able to buy medical marijuana.