New Medical Marijuana Dispensary Opening In Chicagoland

Former Goldman Sachs investment banker, Nicholas Vita, has invested in Columbia Care, a medical marijuana dispensary opening in Jefferson Park on September 6^th. Vita’s motive for entering the Illinois medical marijuana industry is that his mother was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, and he learned that topical medical marijuana products greatly help reduce her inflammation.

Vita and another former Goldman Sachs executive, Michael Abbott, chose to enter into a partnership in the medical marijuana industry, reports The Chicago Tribune. Columbia Care will have its dispensary in Jefferson Park, but plans to open its grow operation in Aurora. The Jefferson Park location will employ about 15 people and the grow operation will provide up to 40 more jobs.

Vita said, “Almost every single partner in the business has a personal story. There’s a huge unmet need.”

There are roughly 9,000 medical marijuana patients in Illinois who have at least one of 40 qualifying medical conditions for a medical marijuana card. In July 2016, Illinois patients purchased $3 million worth of medical marijuana from dispensaries.

One of the benefits of the Columbia Care’s location in Jefferson Park is that it is a large 2,000 square-foot building and can accommodate hundreds of patients per day. It will likely have business hours from 1 p.m. to 6 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday.

Photo: chicagotribune.com