Where to Buy Legal Weed in Chicago

Welcome, Illinois!

You’re officially the 11th state to legalize recreational weed.

No more waiting for some dude who’s 1/2 your age in the Walgreens parking lot at Belmont and Broadway to fork over $100 for a 1/4 oz of God knows what.

So let’s find out where to buy legal weed in Chicago.

Couple things to keep in mind:

Go easy, bitches.

For our friends about to buy legal weed in Chicago for the first time – or the first time since college – try a small amount, wait, and see how you feel. A small amount is defined as 2.5 mg. A few puffs of a joint, probably a 1/4 of a typical edible but ask the bud tender.

People don’t necessarily react the same way to the exact same weed. It can depend on factors as diverse as your biology and what you ate for breakfast. What works for a friend might not work for you.

How long it will take to hit you depends on your method of ingestion – whether it’s smoked, eaten, taken as a tincture, etc. Edibles can take a few hours, whereas smoking will impact you within minutes. Ditto for how long the high will last. Ask your budtender for specifics or learn more here.

The industry is regulated-ish.

It’s important to note that there are no packaging standards. Lab results are squishy.

There is no guarantee that what it says on the package for certain products is what you’ll actually get. It’s much more likely that it’s not. Right now we’re all guinea pigs.

Weed is sold by weight. Buds (flower) are sold by the graham (g) or ounce (oz). Typically 1/8, 1/4 or 1/2 or full ounces (oz). Joints are sold in 2-packs of 1/2g ea for a total of 1gm. Should cost anywhere from $10-20.

There are also city, county, and state taxes averaging about 30%. Right now that’s about double what legal weed costs on the West Coast.

As far as how much you can have, possession limits vary for residents and non-residents.  Residents can have up to 30g flower, 5g concentrates, and edibles up to 500mg THC. For visitors, it’s half that.

And no, you can’t smoke in public.

Is vaping safe?

Dispensaries will be offering vape pens. Everyone loves vape pens because there’s no smell. You can smoke walking down the street. On in a bathroom. Some folks say they’re safe, but there’s no proof of that yet. Do your homework.

Sativa, hybrid or indica?

Totally a personal preference. Indicas are supposed to deliver a more intense, stereotypical body high. Sativa is supposedly higher energy. As a 10+ year recreational weed smoker, I’m not sure I can tell the difference. Talk to your budtender. They’ll walk you through it.

Where to shop:

27 stores are opening on Jan. 1, 2020 and 7 are in Chicago: Mission Chicago in South Shore, Sunnyside in Wrigleyville, Dispensary33 in Andersonville, Maribis in Archer Heights near Midway, MOCA in Logan Square. Columbia Care in Jefferson Park, and the Herbal Care Center in the Near West Side medical district.

The recreational market is piggybacking off the legal medical market so expect a hybrid shopping experience that feels part doctors office and part bro, aka not super sexy or fun yet.

Got more questions? Ask here.

UPDATE: As of Oct 2020 there are lots more places to buy legal weed in Chicago but not nearly enough in key neighborhoods like the South and West sides. We are just barely getting started here, and companies are duking it out for dispensary licenses like nobody’s business. It’s a hot mess.