MUNDELEIN, Ill. (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- The first cannabis lounge in the Chicago suburbs has been approved by the village board in Mundelein.
On Monday, Mundelein village trustees unanimously granted a request from Rise Dispensary to operate an appointment-only pot longue where customers can ingest newly purchased products, with the exception of edibles.
The lounge will be adjacent to a building owned by its parent company, Green Thumb Industries, located at 1570 Baskin Road. A hallway will connect the two buildings.
A man representing 18 business owners in the Hawthorne Industrial Park, Joe Kane, opposed the request.
"We would like to voice our main opposition of this measure: safety. Rise's own application states that their customers will be allowed 90 minutes to consume cannabis before they get back into their cars to drive away," Kane said. "The Hawthorne Industrial Park was never meant to handle the high traffic created by a retail business, let alone impaired drivers.
"We would like to present this signed petition from 18 different companies opposing the measure to allow for on-site consumption at Rise Mundelein," Kane added.
The pot lounge was approved despite the opposition.
Mayor Steve Lentz said he was "originally not in favor of recreational use of cannabis, but once it becomes law, we call it the horse being out of the barn. And once the horse is out of the barn, everything changes."
This will be the first cannabis consumption lounge in the suburbs, opening on a yet to be determined date on the 1300 block of Armour Boulevard in Mundelein.
The pot lounge was approved despite the opposition.
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