Illinois medical marijuana card wait time

shelby123

Member
Mine was received 10/3 and check cashed 12/13. Was told over the phone yesterday that mine was processing and if anything was wrong with it i would get a request for more info in "like 3 weeks" and that if it's approved i would get my card "a few weeks" after that. That's bs because that would mean 5 weeks to get you card after check cashed, and I suspect he just wanted to get me off the phone.

I had also sent an email, and get a response that the check being cashed is a processing fee and they JUST started processing my application and to be patient. I'm just going to sit back and wait now because it seems like they are deliberately being unhelpful due to being pestered so much.
 

asegrower

Member
Mine was received 10/3 and check cashed 12/13. Was told over the phone yesterday that mine was processing and if anything was wrong with it i would get a request for more info in "like 3 weeks" and that if it's approved i would get my card "a few weeks" after that. That's bs because that would mean 5 weeks to get you card after check cashed, and I suspect he just wanted to get me off the phone.

I had also sent an email, and get a response that the check being cashed is a processing fee and they JUST started processing my application and to be patient. I'm just going to sit back and wait now because it seems like they are deliberately being unhelpful due to being pestered so much.
That’s exactly what it is. They have free reign to lie and say whatever they want to you.
 

asegrower

Member
said it is "currently processing now" then the usual scripted reply . by the way a few recent members have gotten card , I would guess mine to be approved an off to printer in a day or two , then its anywhere from 4 days to 10 days
I should be right behind you, being the 5th. Like I said, this lady I talked to had no interest in answering any questions, my guess is she probably didn’t even look it up. I asked her a few specific questions that answered with questions to me. Pretty sure it was BS.
 

natureboy!

Well-Known Member
I should be right behind you, being the 5th. Like I said, this lady I talked to had no interest in answering any questions, my guess is she probably didn’t even look it up. I asked her a few specific questions that answered with questions to me. Pretty sure it was BS.
yeah , hard to tell with them. the more people reporting info , the easier it is to verify , and get an idea of where they are at , and how fast they are moving. if they did the 3rd yesterday , and on the 4th today, they are doing day for day , or doing two days every day. the bottom line is , we are finally getting close ...that's a positive thing.
 

Juke52

Well-Known Member
yeah , hard to tell with them. the more people reporting info , the easier it is to verify , and get an idea of where they are at , and how fast they are moving. if they did the 3rd yesterday , and on the 4th today, they are doing day for day , or doing two days every day. the bottom line is , we are finally getting close ...that's a positive thing.
I wouldn't assume that each day that passes necessarily equals one date's worth of apps processed. Based on how inconsistent the timing of the approval process has been - some getting cards after 80 days or so, others waiting more than 110 days - I think it's more likely that the IDPH just processes however many they can get to in a day. Or maybe they just do a specific number of apps each day. So if they receive a large cluster of apps from one calendar day, it may take them several days to get through them all, while they might get through several day's worth of apps on another day.

Just speculation of course, since no one here really knows what goes on behind closed doors at the IDPH.
 

natureboy!

Well-Known Member
I wouldn't assume that each day that passes necessarily equals one date's worth of apps processed. Based on how inconsistent the timing of the approval process has been - some getting cards after 80 days or so, others waiting more than 110 days - I think it's more likely that the IDPH just processes however many they can get to in a day. Or maybe they just do a specific number of apps each day. So if they receive a large cluster of apps from one calendar day, it may take them several days to get through them all, while they might get through several day's worth of apps on another day.

Just speculation of course, since no one here really knows what goes on behind closed doors at the IDPH.
yes depends if they have one app for a certain day or 100 apps for a certain day. seems sometimes they were doing about 3 days in two ….and some times takes them 3 days for one...no set rule. just speculation as how things have seemed to be going
 

RJoy90

Member
So if I’m understanding correctly, it appears applications from the first week of October are being processed?

I agree with inconsistency. I work with two patients who received cards after 4 weeks and after 8. This was last year. You would think the process would be a little smoother by now. I’m considering my options to get me through the next random drug testing until my card comes. I’m struggling.
 

Myk63

Well-Known Member
depends on the job , I drove a truck for 10 years and was tested /UA/ often. I didn't mind , but I didn't use any drugs either. I was o.k. being at a concert and taking one hit , if it was passed my way. I have seen some crazy truck wrecks ...in that case , not an infringement
Certain things it's reasonable. OTR trucker you often do work 24/7. Pilot, on call to work long unexpected hours. Surgeons, I don't think they are tested but should be, they might be now in the corporate medical world.
Janitor, burger flipper, insurance agent, TV news person, cubical worker, nah. It's just about controlling people in those situations. If you want to control someone's private life they need to be compensated to justify it. Most are not.


Based on how inconsistent the timing of the approval process has been - some getting cards after 80 days or so, others waiting more than 110 days
I don't necessarily believe a lot of the long claims. Even after having it made clear that some clinics hold onto applications, sometimes very long times, people will still complain about their 110 day wait.
Sure it happens where more information was needed, people get lost or IDPH is just slow. But it also happens that people like to whine about stuff.


So if I’m understanding correctly, it appears applications from the first week of October are being processed?

I agree with inconsistency. I work with two patients who received cards after 4 weeks and after 8. This was last year. You would think the process would be a little smoother by now. I’m considering my options to get me through the next random drug testing until my card comes. I’m struggling.
Nobody got it in 4 weeks since early the first year with a normal application. A terminal patient may have but that would've meant they had an issue with their card approval that delayed it.

You would think it would be faster by now, especially with the law being changed to make it nearly instant. But that assumption works on the hope the person that runs IDPH wants it to work smoothly. The complete lack of added conditions by Shah says that as long as he is there it will probably be met with delays.
 

RJoy90

Member
Certain things it's reasonable. OTR trucker you often do work 24/7. Pilot, on call to work long unexpected hours. Surgeons, I don't think they are tested but should be, they might be now in the corporate medical world.
Janitor, burger flipper, insurance agent, TV news person, cubical worker, nah. It's just about controlling people in those situations. If you want to control someone's private life they need to be compensated to justify it. Most are not.




I don't necessarily believe a lot of the long claims. Even after having it made clear that some clinics hold onto applications, sometimes very long times, people will still complain about their 110 day wait.
Sure it happens where more information was needed, people get lost or IDPH is just slow. But it also happens that people like to whine about stuff.




Nobody got it in 4 weeks since early the first year with a normal application. A terminal patient may have but that would've meant they had an issue with their card approval that delayed it.

You would think it would be faster by now, especially with the law being changed to make it nearly instant. But that assumption works on the hope the person that runs IDPH wants it to work smoothly. The complete lack of added conditions by Shah says that as long as he is there it will probably be met with delays.
Yes this was ealy last year. It filled me with false hope.
 

natureboy!

Well-Known Member
I don't think that people wanting medicine is to be called " people like to whine about stuff " seems to me people like to whine about people that want medicine. A 30 day wait is too long. The long wait , is because the government wants it that way . other states with medical cannabis don't have this b.s. 90 day wait. I am not even a Dem. but , because of this , I am damn glad one is coming .Be proactive People , stand and be heard , write emails , tell people about this...its not right ...no way near right. Go to Springfield the next rally /if you can. if not , write the sponsor !
 

Myk63

Well-Known Member
I don't think that people wanting medicine is to be called " people like to whine about stuff " seems to me people like to whine about people that want medicine. A 30 day wait is too long. The long wait , is because the government wants it that way . other states with medical cannabis don't have this b.s. 90 day wait. I am not even a Dem. but , because of this , I am damn glad one is coming .Be proactive People , stand and be heard , write emails , tell people about this...its not right ...no way near right. Go to Springfield the next rally /if you can. if not , write the sponsor !
But the government has no control over a clinic they don't want to exist in the first place holding the application for 30 extra days. Adding that to the claimed wait time doesn't help other patients judge their own wait times.

I think it's clear I don't approve of IL wait times. I also don't approve of embellishing those wait times, which many do. Yes the magical 90 days is because someone wants it to be 90 days, and they're probably why provisional hasn't happened yet.

But I decided I was going to apply whether the new law removing background checks passed or not because the fingerprinting costs came way down from when this first started. I waited over a month before my usual 6 month Dr appointment came around.
I waited 4 years before applying because of how bad our law started out and how high costs to apply were.
Wasn't it 2 years everyone waited for them to implement the law and start taking applications?
Yet here I sit at 81 days because that's when the state got my application and that's the wait time that matters. That's not 130 days, or 1553 days.
 
Top