2,500 Illinoisans Apply for Medical Marijuana Cards

Illinois health officials over the weekend said about 2,500 residents have applied for medical marijuana cards, even as the four-year pilot program remains stalled.

About 1,600 of those applicants have received approval letters, Department of Health spokeswoman Melaney Arnold told the Belleville News Democrat

A series of legal challenges over cultivation centers are still playing out in several areas of the state. That means that some patients who are entitled to apply for medical cannabis cards are waiting.

Kim Locke of Mattoon said she’s held off applying for a card for her 7-year-old daughter Alyssa, who suffers from severe epileptic seizures.