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Local Cannabis Shop Expects Long Lines on New Year's Day

The only Central Illinois dispensary so far approved to sell recreational marijuana on January 1 said they'll have plenty of product on Day 1...but you might not be able to smoke it. 

Scott Miller is general manager of Salveo Health and Wellness in Canton.

"All these other products, anything you can imagine, we've kinda got. Tinctures, and things like that. But the flower availability is going to be a little bit lower in Illinois," he said. 

Miller said there will be plenty of gummy bears, chocolate bars, and other consumables. Those products currently make up more than half of his total medical supply. But buds are a different story. 

Illinois isn't unique in marijuana supply shortfalls with recreational legalization. But Miller said the Land of Lincoln faces an additional challenge other states didn't. 

"Our patient count in Illinois doubled this year. So we kind of are in a double whammy in that our medical program doubled in Illinois in the same year that it became adult-use legal," he said. 

Eligible medical cannabis patients rose from 39,000 in July 2018 to nearly 77,000 last June.

In case of a shortage, he said medical users will get preference.

On New Year's Day, Miller said he expects long lines outside Salveo. Doors open at 6:30 a.m. that day. He said he expects the first day to involve "a lot of education" for new customers and patients. 

Salveo is currently expanding its physical space. The store is set to double its total employee count to 35 to accomodate new demand. 

Copyright 2021 WCBU. To see more, visit WCBU.

Tim Shelley is the News Director at WCBU Peoria Public Radio.