Now that the tiebreaking rules have been finalized, the licenses should be issued in relatively short order. “The administration looks forward to completing this first round of applications in the coming weeks,” said Toi Hutchinson, Governor Pritzker’s senior adviser on cannabis.

It has been a long process and we are excited for the licenses to be issued, but it’s important to keep in mind that this won’t be the end of the process. The licenses are only “Conditional Adult Use Dispensing Organization” licenses that will need to be converted to “Adult Use Dispensing Organization” licenses. Further, there will almost assuredly be litigation in the wake of the licenses being issued. For more information on what we expect to happen after licenses are issued, please check out our “now what?” posts for both those that win licenses and those that do not.

Please check our blog for continued updates on developments affecting the cannabis industry.