High Haven Wins Five Licenses In Illinois For Cannabis Operations

High Haven, a female-led, minority owned, and social equity cannabis company, has officially secured multiple conditional licenses in Illinois to operate adult use cannabis dispensaries. This is in addition to the infusion and transportation licenses they already hold. High Haven received licenses in four BLS regions throughout the state, including Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, Bloomington, St. Louis, and Carbondale, through its advocacy in the state and engagement with Illinois’ corrective lottery.

“We are thrilled to receive five new cannabis licenses in the important, ground-breaking Illinois market, which has helped the US craft one of the most successful legal cannabis markets in the world,” stated Mahja Sulemanjee-Bortocek, CEO of High Haven. “At High Haven, we have deliberate, actionable goals, and we intend to execute on our important vision of cannabis to help other people and move forward with serious change for the rest of the world.”

Gabe Judd is High Haven’s chief compliance officer & general counsel. He has 15 years of corporate civil defense litigation experience. Judd left private practice to join the company in 2021 and played a pivotal role in High Haven’s lawsuit against Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation.

As a result of the suit, High Haven obtained its social equity status and won 5 adult-use dispensary licenses.

The conditional dispensary licenses were awarded by BLS Regions, each of which includes multiple counties. High Haven won: 2 licenses in the sought-after Chicago-Naperville-Elgin BLS Region, 1 license in Bloomington (central IL), 1 license in Carbondale-Marion (southern IL), and 1 license in the St. Louis BLS Region, which includes eight IL counties in and around the East St. Louis area.

Photo: Benzinga; Sources: courtesy of AJEL, lindsayfox via Pixabay