Since September 10, eight of our ten stores serve both recreational (adult-use) customers and registered medical patients. Hand over a valid photo ID and you shop recreational. Hand over an Illinois medical cannabis card with it, and you skip the cannabis excise tax, get priority service, and have a designated consultation area for private conversations about your order.
Governor JB Pritzker signed Senate Bill 3222 on June 12, 2026, and one of its changes lets any adult-use dispensary with an active license in good standing opt in to a medical dispensary license. On September 10, the state issued medical licenses to 37 existing dispensariesmedical licenses to 37 existing dispensaries, the biggest expansion of the Illinois medical cannabis market since 2016. We started serving patients that same day.
If you already shop with us recreationally, the real question is whether a card pays off for the way you buy. That comes down to three things: tax, limits, and how often you come in.
Where Patients Can Shop Medical Today
Medical service is live at Bolingbrook, Crystal Lake, Glendale Heights, Montgomery, Streamwood, and Waukegan across the Chicago Area, plus Peoria and Edwardsville downstate. Our two stores inside Chicago city limits, Bucktown and Logan Square, will follow once City of Chicago permitting is complete. More on those at the bottom.
What Comes Off the Receipt
Tax is the biggest difference between a medical purchase and a recreational one. Recreational sales carry the Illinois cannabis purchaser excise tax: 10% on non-infused cannabis at or below 35% adjusted THC, 25% on non-infused cannabis above 35%, and 20% on infused products like edibles. Registered medical patients don’t pay it. A licensed medical dispensary sells to them at the medical tax rate, up to each patient’s authorized allotment.
Two details decide which bracket a recreational product lands in. The first is adjusted THC, which Illinois calculates as the delta-9 THC percentage plus 0.877 times the THCA percentage. Run the formula on flower labeled 1% delta-9 THC and 25% THCA, and it comes out to 22.925% adjusted THC, which lands in the 10% bracket. A concentrate labeled 2% delta-9 THC and 80% THCA comes out to 72.16%, which lands in the 25% bracket. The second detail is product type. Vapes and concentrates are taxed on their THC percentage instead of being treated as infused products, so a vape above 35% adjusted THC falls in the 25% bracket, while an edible sits at 20% regardless of its strength. At the top bracket, the excise tax alone equals a quarter of the purchase price.
The sales tax changes too. Recreational cannabis is taxed at the 6.25% state rate, plus a municipal cannabis tax of up to 3% and a county cannabis tax of up to 3.75% in unincorporated areas or 3% inside a municipality, where those local taxes are in place. At Ivy Hall, medical purchases are exempt from both the cannabis excise tax and the state’s 1% Retailers’ Occupation Tax. Medical cannabis is also excluded from the municipal and county cannabis taxes, and it’s generally exempt from local sales taxes, with the exception of the Regional Transportation Authority and Metro-East Transit District taxes where they apply.
How the 14-Day Allotment Works
Recreational shoppers work with possession limits by category. Senate Bill 3222 doubled those limits for Illinois residents, from 30 to 60 grams of flower, from 5 to 10 grams of concentrate, and from 500 to 1,000 milligrams of THC in infused products. Out-of-state visitors got the same doubling, up to 30 grams of flower, 5 grams of concentrate, and 500 milligrams of THC in infused products.
The medical program runs on a different clock. A typical patient purchase limit is 2.5 ounces, or 70.87 grams, of flower over 14 days, and flower, pre-rolls, vapes, edibles, oils, and every other cannabis product count against that one limit. Your available amount is your purchase limit minus everything you bought in the last 14 days.
Concentrates and infused products count as the weight of flower used to make them. By the state’s conversion, a gram of THC concentrate equals 3.33 grams of flower, and 100 milligrams of THC in an edible equals 0.33 grams. Put in product terms, a typical patient limit equals 21,300 milligrams of THC in edibles or beverages, which is 213 packages at 100 milligrams each, or 21.3 grams of THC in vapes and concentrates, about 28 one-gram vapes at 75% THC.
Mixed baskets add up the same way. An eighth of flower (3.5 grams), a 100 milligram edible, and a gram of 100% THC oil deduct 7.163 grams from the allotment. Our guide to Illinois purchase limits walks through more examples, including how the recreational categories combine.
The medical limit can also move. A patient’s health care provider can submit a waiver to increase the allotment, an option recreational limits don’t have.
Home Growing, Seeds, and Residency
Only registered medical patients may grow cannabis at home in Illinois, up to five plants, and additional restrictions on personal cultivation apply. Senate Bill 3222 added seeds to that picture: registered patients can now buy cannabis seeds from licensed dispensaries, and seeds may not be given or sold to anyone who isn’t a qualifying patient.
The card itself is for Illinois residents. The state issues medical cards to Illinois residents and does not accept medical cards from other states, so out-of-state visitors shop recreational.
Why Carry a Card When Recreational Is Right There
Anyone 21 or older with a valid ID can shop recreational at our stores, so a card has to earn its place in your wallet. The state card fee is paid once per term, while the tax savings apply to every medical purchase. The more often you buy, and the more of your basket falls in the higher excise brackets, the sooner those savings cover the fee. Shoppers who lean toward vapes and concentrates above 35% adjusted THC feel the difference fastest, since those products sit in the 25% bracket on the recreational side.
The visit itself changes as well. Medical patients receive priority service, so they move through the store efficiently, and patients have a designated medical consultation area for private conversations about product needs.
What a Medical Visit Looks Like
Check-in starts at reception. Present your medical card and a valid photo ID, and our team will direct you to the designated medical consultation area or the medical line for priority service. From there, team members trained to help medical patients assist with product selection and ordering.
Getting a Card If You Don’t Have One Yet
An Illinois medical card starts with a health care professional certification. Your health care professional creates the certification online in the state system and assigns it to you.
The application itself runs through the state’s online Medical Cannabis Patient Program, which uses the State of Illinois ILogin platform for sign-in. Once you have an ILogin account, you select the adult patient registration, enter your patient details, link the certification your provider assigned, choose a one, two, or three year term, and pay the fee.
If you’d like a hand with it, the Illinois Department of Public Health partners with certified local health departments that help patients complete their applications free of charge.
Illinois stopped mailing cards on June 22, 2021. Once you’re approved, you print or download your card from your online patient account and bring it in with your ID.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does an Illinois medical card cost, and how long does it last?
A regular patient card costs $50 for one year, $100 for two years, or $125 for three. Patients who qualify for the reduced fee pay $25, $50, or $75 for the same terms. Each designated caregiver adds $25, $50, or $75, matching the term.
How will I know when my card needs attention?
The state sends email reminders from no-reply.dph.medicalcannabis@illinois.gov. Extension reminders start 60 days before your expiration date, and renewal reminders start 90 days out. If one doesn’t arrive, check your spam and “all mail” folders. If your health care provider selects the lifelong designation on your certification, future renewals don’t require a new provider certification, and the state lists a life-long renewal fee of $50 for a three year term.
Can someone else pick up my order?
Picture a patient whose schedule or mobility keeps them home most days. Illinois lets registered medical patients register up to three designated caregivers, and a registered caregiver can purchase from a medical dispensary on the patient’s behalf. Caregivers sign in to the state system with their own accounts, separate from the patient’s.
Can a parent or guardian shop for a patient under 18?
A qualifying patient under 18 may have up to three designated caregivers, and at least one must be a biological parent or legal guardian. Minor patients are limited to cannabis-infused products, and anyone under 18 is prohibited from purchasing smokable medical cannabis, including vaping products. The application for a minor also requires two certifications, one from the patient’s health care professional and one from a reviewing health care professional, and one caregiver is included in the minor application at no extra charge.
Bucktown and Logan Square Are Next
Bucktown and Logan Square, our two Chicago stores, will join the medical program at a later date, pending City of Chicago permitting. In the meantime, patients can shop medical at any of our other eight locations.
