For the first time in decades, the government in Illinois has finally given approval for the sale of marijuana in the state. The medical marijuana will be open for sale to those who have qualified to be the first patients in the state’s medical cannabis program, said officials.

As pert reports, almost eight marijuana dispensaries, including few in Chicago, will be opened for marijuana sale from Monday. These dispensaries received the permission after the state regulators gave cultivation centres green-signal to start shipping the drug to the retailers last week.

According to the Medical Cannabis Alliance of Illinois, five dispensaries, including one in Addison, Canton, Marion, Mundelein and Quincy, are all set open. These centres are stocked and are ready to treat patients, it added.

It was told that state workers were busy to finish setting up a computer database of patients and caregivers that dispensaries had to use to track where patients buy their cannabis and how many a single patients can buy.

As per health officials, a patient cannot exceed the legal limit of 2 1/2 ounces every two weeks.

Sources familiar with the issue told that some additional dispensaries are expected to get legal authorization to open by the end of this year. The list in total will reach to 18 grow houses and 60 dispensaries that will be authorized to operate under the state’s four-year pilot program.

The state’s Medical Cannabis Pilot Program, which is scheduled to end in 2018, was passed by the former Gov. Pat Quinn. The program was designed to be stricter than other states that were earlier to legalize the drug for medical purposes.