Mission Complicated
Legalization in Chicago gets off to a rocky start
BY AV BENFORD
BY KENDALL SIMPSON
I
t’s October of 2019, and to catalog the rollout of recreational marijuana legalization in Illinois, I’m at 8554 S. Commercial Ave. This is the site of 4Front Ventures’ newest project: the Mission South Shore dispensary, where I’m getting a tour and talking with the dispensary’s general manager about how Mission— the only marijuana dispensary on the Far South Side—plans to position itself in a new market, as well as how the dispensary process works right before legalization. Located on the site of a former laundromat and flanked by auto supply stores, the building does not blend into its industrial surroundings. The exterior is painted from top to bottom in bold colors and linear graphics. Unlike most dispensaries in the U.S. West Coast, Mission doesn’t display its products in traditional large storefront windows. The only windows are higher than its door, making it impossible to see into the building from the ground. Policies around visiting a dispensary 4 SOUTH SIDE WEEKLY
pre-legalization are so stringent that, in order to even be able to set foot on the property as a non-medical cardholder, I had to get special permission from the state five days before my visit. The spirit of Prohibition runs through every step of the process. Entering the dispensary requires you to hand your ID through an opening in what looks like bulletproof glass, fill out a form, and navigate through a series of four doors just to reach the sales floor—all while never seeing the product. Compared to its more retail-focused West Coast siblings, even the building’s bold colors can’t overcome the sterile, pharmacy-like atmosphere that pervades it. In terms of its philosophy though, Mission South Shore fits with plans to revitalize the area. Situated in South Chicago, not South Shore (as the name would indicate), the dispensary has been selling medical marijuana for more than two years, and is located on a street that literally has commerce in its name.
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South Commercial Avenue began as a shopping district for steel and dock workers, who worked in nearby mills abutting the Calumet River. Starting in the 1880s, workers flocked to the area, and by 1891 an "inventory of businesses along the corridor included 45 saloons, 40 clothing stores, 24 food stores, 9 hardware stores, 5 druggists," and numerous miscellaneous ventures. The neighborhood’s population soared to over 55,000 in the 1950s, but by 1992, the last of the steel plants had closed and the area was sliding into rapid decline. The population in the area hit a record low in 2010, at just 31,198 residents. A 2016 report from UIC’s Great Cities Institute recommended revitalizing the Commercial Avenue business district by adding an “anchor” that could draw people to the corridor from other neighborhoods, as well as the suburbs and Indiana. While the report—published before recreational legalization was politically on the table in Illinois—recommends a brewery, the
dispensary seems to fill a similar role. As the only dispensary south of 57th, Mission is well-situated to attract customers from all across the South Side. These customers would also presumably patronize nearby businesses, thus providing an economic boost to the entire corridor. Originally, this much-needed center of commerce was supposed to be located just east of the business district of Chatham, at the intersection of 87th and Greenwood. This is an area that has suffered a series of business closures in the past two years, losing two Targets, a Burlington Coat Factory, and multiple pharmacies. But a neighborhood watch group, the 8th Ward Accountability Coalition, publicly pressured Ald. Michelle Harris to oppose the permit for the dispensary. The group loudly expressed their fears about putting a dispensary near a skating rink and a behavioral counseling center. The idea that locating dispensaries near places where youth gather might produce more underage users
