Officials talk medical marijuana in Mundelein

Mundelein officials think it's likely that someone looking to open a medical marijuana facility might approach the village about the possibility in the future. Here, a man buys medical pot at a business in Washington, D.C. (Linda Davidson, The Washington Post / July 29, 2013)

Even though less than 20 percent of Mundelein likely will be available to those looking to open a medical marijuana dispensary, police Chief Eric Guenther said he expects village officials will be approached in the future about the possibility.

"When these individuals are licensed through the state, I think they're going to be approaching any and every municipality they can to find out where they'll be allowed," Guenther said.

Because of Mundelein's location, Guenther said the town might seem like a particularly attractive target.

"We're centrally located within the county," he said. "We're a better place to be."

But when it comes down to it, Guenther said there still will be a number of hurdles left to clear if someone wants to bring a facility into town. Those seeking to do so will need to find an available location that meets the legal requirements needed to set up a pot-dispensing operation.

Even though he expects Mundelein to be approached about a distribution center, he said it doesn't seem any more likely that such a facility will open there than in any number of surrounding towns.

The statewide, four-year medical marijuana pilot program went into effect Jan. 1. It allows doctors to prescribe up to 2.5 ounces of pot every two weeks to patients who have one of 33 medical conditions.

The law allows for 60 dispensaries and 22 cultivation centers to be spread out geographically across the state.

Guenther said he expected the town's ultimate zoning regulations to be guided by a template set out by a Lake County task force. Mundelein was one of more than 30 county towns to participate in the task force.

Based on zoning restrictions in the state law, any dispensaries would not be able to be within 1,000 feet of places like schools and day care centers, or within residential areas. Cultivation facilities would be restricted to at least 2,500 feet of schools and day cares, with the same buffer for residential zones.

The geographical constraints likely would eliminate a growing operation from being allowed to open in Mundelein, Guenther said. As far as distribution centers, only about one-sixth of the town would be eligible.

The statewide statute also gives towns the ability to increase those limitations, as long as the changes don't unreasonably restrict one or the other.

Lake Zurich, for example, recently bumped the buffer zone for dispensaries up to 1,500 feet and included parks, religious institutions, playing fields, forest preserves and residential properties in those expanded boundaries.

Victor Barrera, director of planning and development for Mundelein, said trustees would have to decide the way they wanted to tweak the regulations to make them specific to their town.

While he said the town would hold a public hearing on the matter, he didn't expect the board to act on it until the state finishes sorting out some administrative procedures.

Officials said they expected those rules to be in place by mid- to late 2014. As for any medical marijuana facilities opening up, Guenther said spring of 2015 seems like the earliest possibility.

If a facility opened, Guenther said he might ask the board for additional departmental resources, though he said it was too early to tell what those might be.

"Safety-wise, this poses a very significant issue because wherever this is now located, everybody is going to know you have two things there: You have marijuana and you have cash," Guenther said. "So why not go there and find some bad things to do?"

While Guenther said he had safety concerns, one board member questioned why the legalization of medical marijuana is prompting so much debate.

Trustee Ed Sullivan said at a committee of the whole meeting Monday that he didn't understand why officials had to go through the "rigmarole" of handling zoning restrictions for pot, when drug stores in town didn't have to go through the same process to sell prescriptions.

"I'm a medical professional," he said. "The pharmaceuticals that I can purchase and administer, many of them are far, far more potent, far more habit-forming than medical marijuana."

Guenther said it had to do with the fact that marijuana wasn't regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, but it also had to do with the stigma associated with pot.

"I think, personally, it's a lot of society's perspective on the matter," he said. "This has been used in such grand fashion illegally for so long, and now they want to, in a sense, use it for this medical reasoning. That's what people are having a problem getting over the hurdle with."

Guenther said this discussion is likely a precursor for one he expects the board to have a few years down the road. He said he expected the pilot program to be made permanent when it expires in 2018.

"It probably will be, and in my professional opinion, in three years we'll be back here talking about the legalization …of cannabis within the state of Illinois," he said. "That's just a guess."

Twitter @danwaters33