Marijuana dispensaries were deemed essential under the stay-at-home order earlier this year. Although dispensaries remained open, workers and customers have had to endure some changes. The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation put guidelines in place to ensure dispensaries continue to be safe for everyone.

Sunnyside is a retail dispensary store under Cresco Labs. One of its locations is in Rockford.

Jason Erkes is the chief communications officer for the company. He shared some of the new practices.

“We have mandatory sanitation that’s taking place every half hour,” he said. “You know, we have online ordering for recreational customers and optional for medical patients where they can place their orders.”  

Erkes said that medical patients are the dispensaries’ top priority. He said they’re allowed to come into the store to make purchases if it is more convenient for them.      

He also said the staff can only work with a certain team and that their hours are staggered. He explained if someone comes in contact with the virus at work, this makes it easier to pinpoint who’ve they’ve been around.

Erkes said the guidelines also helps with social distancing.

“There’s definitely a high demand for cannabis in the Rockford area and across the state,” he said. “But our dispensary is, you know, are keeping safe distance and making sure we’re not allowing more customers that we can handle at any given time.”

Erkes said despite the high sales, the supply is still intact.

“More cultivators have finished their expansion projects and things like that,” he said.  “So you know, the supply chain is really working itself out in Illinois and each week and each month, we start to see more supply come to the marketplace.”

Inspectors at IDFPR are watching cameras that are placed in the dispensaries to ensure the guidelines are followed.

The IDFPR said the state brought in more than $37 million for adult-use sales in April.