Team Pritzker owes would-be pot shop owners an explanation – Crain’s*

Growth in overall sales and tax revenue is slowing, largely because Illinois has far fewer retail locations per capita than other states. Meanwhile, the effort to give Black and Brown entrepreneurs a fair shot at potentially lucrative retail licenses has also been hobbled by bureaucratic delay. Now hey’ve hit another snag. The state of Illinois says the applicants can’t take on investors until they have their shops built out, inspected and open for business. Yet to build out those shops, some applicants need capital. Most banks still aren’t willing to lend to marijuana businesses because weed is still illegal on a federal level. Those who do lend are reportedly charging 18% to 20% interest rates.