News Local/State

Judge Asked To Delay Medical Marijuana Permit In Kankakee

By The Associated Press
 
This 2011 file photo shows medical marijuana clone plants at a dispensary in Oakland, California.

This Feb. 1, 2011 file photo shows medical marijuana clone plants at a medical marijuana dispensary in Oakland, Calif. ( AP Photo/Jeff Chiu, File)

A Chicago company that failed to win a permit to grow medical marijuana has a court hearing in its lawsuit against the state of Illinois.
 
Attorneys for the company, PM Rx LLC, will ask a Cook County judge Tuesday for a temporary restraining order to halt the permit process in a region that covers Ford, Iroquois and Kankakee counties.
 
PM Rx filed the complaint last week against the Illinois Department of Agriculture, claiming the agency didn't follow its own rules for licensing cultivation centers.
 
The company had applied for a license to grow marijuana in Kankakee in Illinois State Police District 21. The state awarded the license to another Chicago company.

Cresco Labs won the license in that district and in two other districts. Cresco plans to build cultivation centers in Lincoln, Joliet and Kankakee.

UPDATE -   A Cook County judge on Wednesday granted a temporary restraining order that will delay medical marijuana cultivation in one part of Illinois.
 
Judge Kathleen Kennedy made the ruling Wednesday at a hearing in Chicago. Her action puts on a hold a permit for Cresco Labs to grow marijuana in Kankakee.
 
It's the first lawsuit filed against the state of Illinois concerning medical marijuana. Attorney John Rooks said his client, PM Rx, needed a delay in order to find out more about how the Department of Agriculture scored applicants.