Lawmakers in Illinois have approved a set of administrative rules for marijuana businesses and patients. If all goes well, the industry will launch in the spring of 2015, they said.

The Joint Committee on Administrative Rules approved the regulations for the industry, which lawmakers had proposed several months ago.

Under the new rules, medical marijuana patients with last names beginning with the letters A through L will be able to apply for ID cards in September and October; the remainder will apply in November and December.

The approval requires cultivation centers to pay a $200,000 license fee and have $500,000 in liquid assets. Dispensaries must pay a $30,000 licensing fee and have $400,000 in liquid assets.

Hopeful entrepreneurs can begin applying for licenses to cultivate and sell medical marijuana in September. Regulators hope to draw up a scoring system for the applicants within 30 days.

Sales tax will be set at 8% for dispensaries, while cultivators will pay a 7% privilege tax on sales.

Additionally, the Illinois Department of Agriculture will convert one of its laboratories into a testing center for medical marijuana, where plants will be checked for potency, mold and pesticides.

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