Police Chief Explains Medical Marijuana Affects on Police Dept

Police Chief Steven Casstevens of Buffalo Grove (second from left) spoke to village officials about how Illinois’s medical marijuana legislation could potentially affect the village and police department.

The Illinois medical marijuana law, which will go into effect in 2014, will allow up to 22 marijuana cultivation centers, and 60 medical marijuana dispensaries in Illinois where patients can purchase medical marijuana. People suffering from one or more of the 35 medical conditions may qualify to be patients and could legally purchase up to 2.5 ounces of marijuana every 14 days.

It’s uncertain at this time where the medical marijuana dispensaries and cultivation centers will be located, but restrictions will prevent them from opening within certain distances of schools, childcare facilities, and homes. The cultivation centers would probably require large spaces. An average-sized cultivation center in Colorado is about 13,000 square feet.

Municipalities can enact their own “reasonable zoning ordinances,” Casstevens added, but “reasonable” is yet to be defined.